For immediate release
Contact:
Alisa Harrison, 202-628-8000
Matthew Haller, 202-662-0770
aharrison@franchise.org
mhaller@franchise.org
twitter.com/franchising411 

WASHINGTON, April 17-Trade groups representing the financial services and small business communities today announced an expanded private-sector partnership to strengthen small business lending and spur job creation at the 2nd annual Small Business Lending Summit.

"There is a direct correlation between increasing access to capital for small businesses and boosting job creation by small businesses. By partnering to understand the collective challenges lenders and borrowers face in the current economic and regulatory environment, we hope to create better bank-ready borrowers and improve access to capital, ultimately creating more jobs and spurring the economic recovery," said a joint statement issued by the organizers of the Summit, Steve Caldeira, President & CEO, International Franchise Association, Steve Bartlett, President & CEO, Financial Services Roundtable, Richard Hunt, President, Consumer Bankers Association and Tony Wilkinson, President & CEO, National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders.

The statement was delivered to members of Congress and the Administration. The groups called on policymakers to consider meeting with their members in Washington and in their districts throughout the election year to hear about the challenges small businesses and lenders are facing in the current economic and regulatory environment.

Key policymakers speaking at the Summit included Karen Mills, Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration, Martin Gruenberg, Acting Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Thomas Curry, U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Majority Whip, U.S. House of Representatives and Don Graves, Executive Director of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

Small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms, employ half of all private sector employees, pay 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll and generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years. With the unemployment rate still above 8 percent, small business lending is a key component of the economic recovery.

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About the International Franchise Association
The International Franchise Association is the world's oldest and largest organization representing franchising worldwide. Celebrating over 50 years of excellence, education and advocacy, IFA works through its government relations and public policy, media relations and educational programs to protect, enhance and promote franchising. Through its media awareness campaign highlighting the theme, Franchising: Building Local Businesses, One Opportunity at a Time, IFA promotes the economic impact of the more than 825,000 franchise establishments, which support nearly 18 million jobs and $2.1 trillion of economic output for the U.S. economy. IFA members include franchise companies in over 300 different business format categories, individual franchisees and companies that support the industry in marketing, law and business development.