A meeting yesterday between Vice President Biden and 13 U.S. banks has resulted in a number of these banks announcing or reiterating small business loan commitments. The banks include:
- Chase: announced that it was on track to increase small business lending this year by 20% over 2010 levels, to $12 billion
- Citi: committed to lend $24 billion to small business over the next three years ($7 billion in 2011, rising to $9 billion in 2013)
- KeyBank: committed to lend $5 billion to small businesses over the next three years
- M&T Bank: pledged to increase small business lending by $50 million over 2010 levels for each of the next three years
For banks, making such a commitment is important, as it acts as a rallying point around which resources can be concentrated. Having a specific commitment also implies that the bank’s senior management has approved the objective, another key criterion for success.
However, announcing a specific lending commitment is only a first step. For banks to achieve a small business lending objective, they need to design and implement an integrated plan that encompasses a wide range of activities, including:
- Customer and competitive intelligence
- Segmentation and targeting
- Data mining
- Product, service and offer development
- Marketing communications
- Merchandising
- Sales channel optimitization (including structuring, incentives, training, and ongoing sales support)
In addition, these activities needs to be organized around customer needs and bank opportunities at various stages of the customer lifecycle:
- Acquisition
- Oonboarding
- Cross-sell
- Retention
- Ongoing relationship development
For more insights in developing effective small business banking operations, see our white paper on The Transformation of Small Business Banking in the Thought Leadership section of the EMI Strategic marketing website.
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