WSJ: U.S. "Lending Falls at Epic Pace"

Sound familiar?

It appears that U.S. commercial banks have followed the same Canadian trend that we’ve been tracking on our blog over the past 12+ months (see prior post “Is the credit crunch ending?” Feb 2-10). This is from this morning’s Wall Street Journal:

Besides registering their biggest full-year decline in total loans outstanding in 67 years, U.S. banks set a number of grim milestones. According to the FDIC, the number of U.S. banks at risk of failing hit a 16-year high at 702. More than 5% of all loans were at least three months past due, the highest level recorded in the 26 years the data have been collected. And the problems are expected to last through 2010.

It remains unclear whether the sharp decline in loans outstanding stems from banks’ tightening standards and a fear of lending or from weak demand from potential borrowers spooked by the downturn. Another cause could be banks actively reducing the size of their loan portfolios, creating a natural decline.

Do we need to remind any high quality U.S.-based SME companies with revenue in excess of $5 million that Wellington Financial is open for growth capital business? And we are actually hunting for it: we are Platinum sponsors of today’s Southeast Venture Conference, which is being held in McLean, Virginia this year.

Last week we were seeing companies in Boston, and the week before that it was New Jersey, Florida and Quebec. Next week, San Francisco.

Over the past few weeks we’ve closed growth financings for Boston VC and New York PE-backed firms. Another new financing for a U.S.-based tech company is on deck for next week. Last November, we opened an office in Santa Monica in an effort to be smack-dab in the middle of the California market. We are open for business!

Send us your growth plan, and we’d love to help it come to pass.

MRM