The U.S. Treasury has strengthened its ties with Lafayette, selecting MidSouth Bancorp Inc. to participate in the Small Business Lending Fund.
The U.S. Treasury has strengthened its ties with Lafayette, selecting MidSouth Bancorp Inc. to participate in the Small Business Lending Fund. The fund will allow the bank to offer more commercial loans at low and competitive rates to small businesses across its two-state trade area.
With this SBLF, MidSouth Bank aims to place $108 million in new loans on its books over the next two years.
"Working with the U.S. Treasury, the Small Business Administration and the various economic development districts throughout our markets will allow us to increase loans to many small businesses, which in turn will enable them to hire more employees in the areas of Louisiana and Texas," says Troy Cloutier, MidSouth Bank's chief banking officer. "We are very interested in talking to anyone in Louisiana and Texas about these small business loans."
The SBLF was enacted into law as part of the Small Business Job Acts of 2010, which is also commonly referred to as the Jobs Act. This $30 billion fund promotes small business lending by providing capital to qualified community banks with assets under $10 billion. To qualify for a loan through SBLF funding, companies must have annual sales under $50 million and borrow fewer than $10 million.
MidSouth Bank now has 40 locations in Louisiana and Texas and $1.2 billion in assets.