CDFIs and Online Business Lending

In March 2015, the Center for Impact Finance at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire convened the 16th Annual Financial Innovations Roundtable at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, DC. The objectives of the proceedings were:

1. To understand changes in the small business lending marketplace that affect community development lenders and the small business customers they serve

2. To identify and begin to advance ways for Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) and other mission-based lenders to take advantage of, and shape technological developments that can improve small business access to credit and encourage growth of the small business lending marketplace.

Sam’s Club Giving has provided the Carsey School of Public Policy research funds to examine the emerging online small business lending sector—a part of the broader “fintech” (financial technology) sector—and its relationship to and effects upon CDFIs. The Carsey School conducted 25 interviews with both CDFIs and online business lending industry stakeholders, compiled data and reviewed literature on the current state of both industries, and examined initiatives in which CDFIs are partnering with online business lenders or are applying fintech in some way to their work.