The Fed’s 2020 Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS) notes that small businesses were 12 percentage points more likely to receive financing through a fintech or online lender in 2018 than in 2016, with a nearly equal decline in the likelihood of borrowing from a community or mid-size bank.
The Fed’s November 2020 Economic letter highlights the role of community banks in lending to SMBs, and especially to those small businesses that were hit hard by restrictions that limited their ability to pay operating costs during the COVID-19 crisis.
