Becker, Sekula represent CUs at small-biz forum

Nov. 19, 2009 – NAFCU President Fred Becker and Mark Sekula, senior vice president of business services at Randolph-Brooks FCU in Live Oak, Texas, attended a forum yesterday hosted by Treasury and the Small Business Administration on strategies for providing small businesses greater access to capital.

Becker said he was pleased Sekula was on hand to represent credit unions at the forum, which was attended by 100 select stakeholders. Randolph-Brooks FCU ranks as the fifth-largest SBA Patriot Express Lender in the United States, year-to-date for 2009, with 133 loans totaling about $8 million. Randolph-Brooks is also ranked as the number one SBA lender in the 55 counties in its SBA district for 2009.

The NAFCU president noted that many credit unions are ready and able to assist small businesses but that they are constrained by the statutory 12.25 percent-of-assets cap on credit union MBL programs. NAFCU is pressing for an increase to 25 percent.

The association is also seeking greater access for credit unions to a recently launched program offering low-cost capital for small-business lending purposes and making the SBA guarantee permanent.