Compliance Blog

Written by Ricardo Piñeres, Regulatory Compliance Counsel

SBA Announces New Business Credit Score Model.  The Small Business Administration (SBA) is currently in the final phases of preparation before launching a new predictive business credit scoring model.  SBA Administrator Maria Contreras Sweet made this announcement as part of a speech on June 10, at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C.  The new model will produce a score based upon a combination of an entrepreneur’s personal and business credit scores, and it will be made available to all SBA lending partners for loans of $350,000 or less starting in July.

The SBA has been working on this initiative for over a decade, and the agency believes that transitioning over to this new model will “make it easier and less time-intensive for banks to do business with the SBA.”  One of the reasons that the SBA is touting the new model’s time savings is because under the new model a lender will no longer need to run an analysis of the borrowing company’s cash flow.  According to the agency, this step was a cumbersome one that delayed many loan decisions.  Furthermore, according to the SBA, the new model “ensures that risk characteristics – not socio-economic factors – determine who is deemed creditworthy.”

Along with announcing this new predictive business credit scoring model, SBA Administrator Contreras Sweet also spoke about the SBA One initiative during her speech that was largely focused on how the SBA and its programs need to continue becoming more inclusive of minorities and women.  SBA One, when launched, will be an interactive and user-friendly SBA lending platform that aims to save credit unions and other lenders processing time on the agency’s 7(a) loan program by replacing fax machines and paperwork with automated uploads of  documents, generation of forms and allows electronic signatures.  Contreras Sweet said, “[b]y making the process quicker, cheaper and more intuitive, these reforms will help existing lenders do more small-dollar lending.”  There is no launch date yet available for SBA One.

Along with announcing these two initiatives, Contreras Sweet talked about the agency’s focus on getting more loans to qualified business owners.  She highlighted three areas that the SBA will be focusing on in this effort.  First, the agency is planning to modernize and implement smart systems, so that the SBA is in a position to keep pace with technological advances.  Second, the SBA wants to create a more inclusive agency by tailoring programs that embrace the U.S.’s changing demographics and are more responsive to future demographic shifts.  Lastly, the agency wants to serve as a market maker for small companies by opening new business channels within the federal government, corporate supply chains, and international commerce.

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Free Kick.  The group stage is now two-thirds of the way done, and there is not much more than can be said about the quality of play other than - wow!  This World Cup has had it all so far: amazing goals (another one); heroic individual efforts; incredible upsets; and uplifting performances.  Here is a short primer on where we stand (from my perspective).

Most Impressive teams: Colombia, France, and Germany

Biggest surprise: Costa Rica

Biggest disappointments: Argentina and Spain

Top performers: Guillermo Ochoa, Thomas Muller, and Luis Suarez

In terms of my rooting interests, I am still on a high after Colombia booked its place in the Round of 16 last Thursday.  This is the first time that they have made it out of the group stage since 1990, and I think that Los Cafeteros can win a few more games during this tournament.  James Rodriguez has been excellent, the defense has been solid, Juan Cuadrado has been an unending creative spark in the midfield, and Jose Pekerman has been expertly pulling the strings both in terms of tactics and personnel.  VAMOS COLOMBIA!

Turning to the U.S. squad, I think that all of our collective hearts dropped when Portugal scored that equalizer at the last possible second.  That it came from a Cristiano Ronaldo cross after he had been forced into irrelevancy for 94 minutes was even more deflating.  So, where does that leave the U.S. in terms of qualifying for the business end of the tournament?  They have four points (tied with Germany atop the group, but in second place due to goal differential) entering the last pair of group matches.  Here are the qualifying scenarios facing the U.S. for Thursday’s game (12:00 pm EDT) against Germany:

• The U.S. wins the group if they beat Germany.
• The U.S. advances to the Round of 16 as the second place team in the group if:
  • They draw against Germany;
  • They lose against Germany and the Ghana-Portugal game ends in a draw;
  • They lose against Germany, Portugal beats Ghana, and Portugal’s goal differential in the final game is greater than the U.S.’s by four or less;
  • They lose against Germany by one goal, Ghana beats Portugal by one goal, and Ghana scores an equal number or less goals than the U.S. in their last games; or
  • They lose against Germany by a score of 3-0, Portugal beats Ghana by a score of 2-0, and the U.S. wins the drawing of lots against Portugal.

LET'S GO USA!