A survey released Monday by the Federal Reserve shows big banks are beginning to ease up on stringent lending standards for small businesses. It’s the first time this has happened since late 2006.

Lending standards and terms slackened modestly from April to July in many categories of borrowing. However, the conditions are not as favorable as they were before the financial crisis.

The survey shows bout 14.5 percent of banks said they eased standards for small-business loans, while 5.5 percent tightened them, and the rest remained unchanged.

Smaller banks continue to remain more cautious about lending, according to the survey, which is based on responses from 57 domestic banks and 23 U.S. branches of foreign banks. The data was collected from July 13 to July 27.

Source:  The Wall Street Journal,  Big Banks Loosen Lending Standards

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