Regal Bank Wins $7M to Help Small Businesses

Regal Bank may be headquartered on Mount Pleasant Avenue, but it considers itself Main Street. Sponsor of summer concerts on the Oval, the bank is among the leaders in town giving back to the community.

Now with an extra $7 million from the U.S. Treasury, Regal plans to help small businesses create new jobs.

Small businesses are seen as by the Obama administration, creating two out of every three new jobs. Last week, the Livingston-based bank was told it would receive the money as part of the next wave of funding provided through the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF).

Regal Bank received $7 million as part of the $30 billion effort to encourage lending to small businesses by providing capital to qualified community banks with assets of less than $10 billion, said Dan Tower, the bank’s executive vice president and chief financial officer.

“Through the Small Business Lending Fund, Main Street banks like Regal Bank and small businesses can work together to help create jobs and promote economic growth in local communities across the nation,” Tower said.

serves communities in Essex and Hudson counties, with offices in Livingston and Roseland.

The SBLF, which was established as part of the Small Business Jobs Act that President Obama signed into law, encourages community banks to increase their lending to small businesses, helping those companies expand their operations and create new jobs.          

“There is no task more important than strengthening our economy and creating jobs, and this investment in small businesses across the country will help us achieve that goal,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal S. Wolin in a press release. 

“By incentivizing community banks to extend billions of dollars in much-needed credit to small businesses, the Small Business Lending Fund can spur growth and put Americans back to work in communities nationwide,” Wolin said.

Small businesses employ about one-half of all Americans and account for about 60 percent of gross job creation. But small business owners faced disproportionate challenges in the aftermath of the recession and credit crisis, including difficulty accessing capital, Wolin said. For more details on the SBLF program, click this link.