Posted by Molly Nelson - In remarks to a Federal Reserve conference investigating how to increase lending to small businesses, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke was clear in his support for getting more funds to small businesses.
"Making credit accessible to sound small businesses is crucial to our economic recovery," Bernanke said. "More must be done."
One option that has been put forth is increasing the amount of assets credit unions can lend to small businesses. While Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is co-sponsoring one such proposal (to increase the amount of assets credit unions are allowed to lend from 12.25 percent to 25 percent) that has been included in the Small Business Lending Enhancement Act, Small Business Trends reports that the Independent Community Bankers of America are against the proposal.
[Bernanke Calls Loans to Small Business Critical to Recovery]
[Credit Union Lending: A Solution to Small-Business Capital Crunch?]