The following ranking is based on information from the SBA's most current study on small-business lending activities, Small Business and Micro Business Lending in the United States, for Data Years 2004-2005*. The ranking lists, by state, the banks that were ranked the top business-friendly lenders. (In the case of a tie, the banks are listed alphabetically.) Microbusiness loans are defined as business loans of less than $100,000. In cases where the banks were acquired after this listing was compiled, we list both the old and new names of the bank.

The study uses four criteria to identify and rank the banks identified as microbusiness-friendly: 1) the ratio of microbusiness loans to total assets; 2) the ratio of microbusiness loans to total business loans; 3) the dollar value of microbusiness loans; and 4) the total number of microbusiness loans.

To read the complete microlending report, visit www.sba.gov/advo/research/2005.html.

*Published in December 2006