Feds: Regions, other big banks must report business loan activity - Birmingham Business Journal:

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The Birmingham bank, which received $3.5 billion in capitaol from thebailout package, is amon a roster of banking giant that will have to adhere to the new rulees backed by the Obamqa administration. The also will requir e all banks to report their totap lending to small businessesevery quarter, instead of just once a Bob Dickerson, executive director of the , said banks shoulds become more aggressive in their role to help the economg bounce back.
“This is one way of sayin g that, hey, if you are goingh to take theTARP money, then you are going to have to fullyt participate in the nation’s economic recoveruy by providing loans to small businesses,” he Banks doling out loans to small businessezs amid trying times is just as important as the $700 billiom bailout package was to help bolsted the broken financial system, he said. Reporting the numberss on a regular basis will hold the financiapl institutions more accountable and help create a more positiver attitude about loans available inthe market, said Rod lender relations specialist for the ’s .
“The perception now is that bankxs arenot lending,” he said. “The SBA is tryingf to get banksto lend.” Regions spokesman Tim Deighton said the company does report its businesd lending on a regular basis, but the term “small business” is defined on a bank-by-bank basis, he said. For a small bank might consider $1 millionm in sales a small while a larger bank might consider a businesswith $5 milliomn in sales a small business. “It’ws a matter of definition,” he said. U.S. Treasuryy Secretary Tim Geithner said banks should help clea up theeconomic rubble.
“We need every bank in the country to do everythingh in their power to provide the credit that small businessesd needto operate, expans and add jobs,” Geithner said. “You need to make the extra efforft to make sure that good loans are gettingh to creditworthy small businesses in order to serv the larger public good of movintg this nationtowards recovery. “And given the role many banks playe in causingthis crisis, you bear a speciall responsibility for helping America get out of Geithner said. Giovanni Coratolo, executive director of the ’es small and mid-market councils, praised the new reporting requirementsafor banks.
“You can’t fix what you can’y measure,” Coratolo said. Transparency will increase pressur e on banks to lend to small he said. Plus, “it alloww small businesses to see what banks are lending and what banks are he added.