Coleman Report

June 9, 2026 Bob ColemanFounder & Publisher SBA Hot Topic Tuesday: SBA 7(a) Grocery Loans Top $30 Million in First Month The SBA announced that it approved 19 loans totaling more than $30 million during the first month of its enhanced 90% Grocery Guaranty program. Through the SBA International Trade Loan Program, the Grocery Guaranty…

June 8, 2026 Bob ColemanFounder & Publisher Main Street Monday: Restaurant Operators Prioritize Catering, M&A, and New Unit Growth for 2026  The 10th Restaurant Industry Insiders Conference, hosted by Citizens Bank, was recently held at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica, California. A survey of leading multi-unit franchise operators attending the conference provided several…

June 5, 2026 Bob ColemanFounder & Publisher Fraud Friday: Bank Insider Sold Customer Data for $155,000, Enabling $3.4 Million Fraud Kelvin Lam pleaded guilty last week to defrauding TD Bank customers and bribing an employee at another financial institution to falsify bank records, facilitating more than $3.4 million in fraud. Lam worked for TD Bank.…

June 4, 2026 Bob ColemanFounder & Publisher Movers & Shakers: Freedom Bank, Amy Anderson, Justin Gamble & Jaye Deremer Freedom Bank Receives Preferred Lender Status for SBA’s 7(a) Working Capital Pilot Program “Freedom Bank has a long-standing commitment to helping small businesses thrive,” says Joe Thomas, President & CEO of Freedom Bank. “Our participation in…

June 3, 2026 Bob ColemanFounder & Publisher A Coleman Conversation: Tony Vahsholtz In this week’s episode of A Coleman Conversation, Bob Coleman sits down with Tony Vahsholtz, Senior Vice President and Director of SBA Division at Lexicon Bank, to discuss his 30-year banking career and his leadership in building Lexicon’s SBA lending platform from the…

June 2, 2026 Bob Coleman SBA Hot Topic Tuesday: SBA Eases Prior Loss Rule for Passive Investors The SBA has issued SBA Policy Notice 5000-879464, “Prior Loss Rule: Non-Controlling Ownership Update,” effective June 1, 2026, providing relief for investors in small businesses who previously could have been disqualified from future SBA financing because of a…

Main Street Monday — The Financing Dilemma: Fast Money vs. Cheap Money  June 1, 2026 The Federal Reserve released its 2026 Report on Employer Firms, which collected responses from 6,525 small businesses nationwide and provides an interesting snapshot of credit availability on Main Street. One finding highlights the challenge facing many small businesses.  Merchant cash…

May 29, 2026 Ernest Mo, a banker in Houston,  was arrested on May 4, 2026, for loan fraud.  According to the U.S. Attorney, he acted as an insider bank loan officer on millions of dollars in fraudulent loans as part of a large-scale bank fraud scheme. Mo was employed as a loan officer by various…

May 28, 2026 Bob ColemanFounder & Publisher Movers & Shakers: Waleed Husain, Giancarlo Simonetti, Maria Mejia Waleed Husain Appointed New Chief Risk Officer for CDC Small Business Finance and Capital Impact Partners “Waleed’s extensive background in both the public and private sectors promises to significantly enhance our business resilience and portfolio optimization,” says CEO Ellis…

May 27, 2026 Bob ColemanFounder & Publisher SBA 504 CDC Lender Data for 6 Mos FY 26 The FY 2026 six-month numbers are available here. The first sheet ranks CDC lenders by SBA 504 by loan volume. The second is an alphabetical list of CDCs. New to the report is the total project loan amount,…