ARLINGTON, MA– Leader Bank, N.A. received two awards for its work as a small business lender and community financial institution in 2021 from the Massachusetts office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) at their annual year end awards ceremony.
The Bank was recognized at the organization’s annual Lender Awards Ceremony held virtually on December 10 as both the Massachusetts Lender to Retailer of the Year and Community Financial Institution of the Year for 2021.
“We are honored to receive these two awards and proud of the work we have done in 2021 to support the small businesses that make our community a vibrant place to live and work,” said Sushil K. Tuli, Chairman and CEO of Leader Bank. “Leader Bank understands the critical importance of supporting small businesses during the challenges they have faced in what has been another particularly difficult year, and we look forward to continuing to help them recover and thrive in 2022.”
The Massachusetts office of the U.S. SBA manages the administration and delivery of the organization’s programs throughout the state including loan assistance programs as well as special outreach efforts and initiatives for small businesses. The organization’s annual awards recognize the work of financial institutions in the state across a variety of categories including top lenders to minorities, women entrepreneurs, veterans, rural areas, and more.
The Bank has been a Preferred Lender of the SBA since 2010 and maintains a diverse suite of SBA products including term loans and lines of credit. These loans help small businesses by providing working capital, financing acquisitions of property or equipment, funding the purchase of existing businesses, and refinancing higher cost debt. Since 2015, the Bank has made over 425 SBA loans to small businesses across New England totaling more than $47 million in lending.
Leader Bank was also a proud participant of the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in 2020, assisting close to 1,500 small businesses by lending more than $102 Million, with an average PPP loan size of $68,000.
