5:1

In a recent study conducted by Biz2credit, Banks with assets greater than $10billion approved only 9.2% of Small Business loan applications. The approval rate for community banks for Small Business loans was 45.1%. Yes, the approval rate is almost 5 times higher for the loans!

Since Small Businesses account for most of the new jobs growth in the US, it’s important to recognize that community banks deliver the goods.

What explains this disparity? One word—Community. Community banks prosper only if their community does. The incentive is very strong for community banks to spend the time to know the customer, the business plans, the history, etc. because we want new jobs to flourish in the community. We make local decisions based on local knowledge. The larger banks focus much more heavily on numerical analysis (conducted out of the community market) and do not allow as much emphasis on local knowledge for their decisions.

 With all the commotion concerning the “Occupy _____” movement, it is useful to step back and understand the distinction between Wall Street and Main Street.

Community Banks serve their communities.