On today’s Business Beat, Jeff discusses Huntington Bank’s $1 billion commitment to minority-owned businesses in Detroit and Wayne County. Huntington just completed the acquisition of TCF Bank, making Huntington the 25th largest bank in the country with more than $170 billion in assets.
Tune in to the Business Beat, below, to learn more about what Huntington Bank is pledging to do to support local small businesses in Detroit:
“So, funding allocations targeting minority owned businesses at the level of which Huntington bank is committing is the kind of initiative that can be incredibly impactful in not only supporting small business dreams but specifically supporting small business dreams for those that need that support most.”
– Jeff Sloan
Tune in to News/Talk 760 AM WJR weekday mornings at 7:11 a.m. for the WJR Business Beat. Listeners outside of the Detroit area can listen live HERE.
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Good morning, Paul!
There’s good energy in the air, and that good energy comes in part from the Huntington Bank success story. Huntington has just completed the acquisition of TCF Bank, making Huntington now the 25th largest bank in the country with more than $170 billion in assets. And yesterday, Huntington announced a lending pledge for minority businesses and individuals that includes a $1 billion commitment to Detroit and Wayne County, specifically targeting minorities underserved and small businesses in our region.
The $1 billion earmark for the Detroit region is part of an overall $11 billion commitment to the state of Michigan. Now, we’ve highlighted on the Business Beat just how important angel financing and venture capital financing is to any small business community and, of course, small business lending and other small business services provided by banks targeting small businesses is of equal importance. While only a fraction of businesses qualify for angel and venture capital investment as a source of funding, small business loans are critical to the broader audience of small businesses. So, this recent announcement by Huntington is therefore really welcome news to the small businesses in our region.
Now, significantly, 2 billion of the total commitment in Michigan will specifically be earmarked for lending to minority-owned businesses, and this is a particularly important initiative. How important? Well, data made public by the Federal Reserve demonstrates that there is indeed a significant gap between the financing that white small business owners receive versus those of minority small business owners. Specifically, 80.2% of white small business owners receive at least a percentage of the funding they request from a bank, compared to only 66.4% of minority-owned businesses.
So, funding allocations targeting minority owned businesses at the level of which Huntington bank is committing is the kind of initiative that can be incredibly impactful in not only supporting small business dreams but specifically supporting small business dreams for those that need that support most.
I’m Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of StartupNation.com, and that’s today’s Business Beat on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes, WJR.
