Birmingham Bank Receives Federal Money for Small Business Lending

Small businesses in Metro Detroit may be getting some help from the , as the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Wednesday that the bank’s holding company, Birmingham Bloomfield Bancshares Inc., recently received $4.6 million through the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF).

The SBLF, established as part of the 2010 Small Business Jobs Act, encourages community banks to increase lending to small businesses, which then helps those companies expand and create new jobs, said U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary Neal S. Wolin.

“Access to capital is critical to ensuring small businesses can invest, expand and hre in their local communities,” said Wolin in a press release. “These funds will help unlock credit for entrepreneurs to support private sector growth and job creation.”

According to Wolin, small businesses employ half of all Americans and account for 60 percent of gross job creation.

The SBLF provides capital to community banks that hold less than $10 billion in assets. The dividend rate a community bank pays on a SBLF loan is reduced as the bank increases lending to small businesses.

In a statement, the Bank of Birmingham says it will use about $3.4 million of the money to repay the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), while the rest will be used to increase its capitalization.

"We are extremely proud of the bank's performance and treasury's commitment," Rob Farr, CEO of Birmingham Bloomfield Bancshares and Bank of Birmingham, said in the statement.

"This investment will allow the Bank of Birmingham to leverage the additional capital to increase available credit to qualified customers and continue to support the economic growth of our primary market area," Farr said.