Business Briefs: Lynnwood’s UniBank gets loan fund cash
Published 12:01 am Friday, July 8, 2011
Lynnwood’s UniBank was among the first in the nation Wednesday to receive money from a special lending fund established by the Small Business Jobs Act. It will receive $5.5 million from the fund as one of six community banks in the first wave of funding by the federal Treasury. Peter Park, chief fin
ance office for the bank, said its projections expect annual lending increases of 15 to 20 percent. He said the money from the fund strengthens the bank financially and gives it a lot of options. The Lynnwood bank, launched in 2006, caters to small businesses in Snohomish and King counties. It has a Tacoma office and recently opened another in Federal Way. “This recession began on Wall Street, but only Main Street can end it,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. Cantwell, a member of the Senate Small Business and Finance committees, helped write the jobs act and was instrumental in winning passage of the fund. She said increased access to capital is essential to help small businesses grow and to encourage them to start hiring again. The funds allow community banks that show significant increases in small business lending to access money at rates as low as 1 percent.
Storms boost delays at airports in May
Fourteen American Eagle flights were stuck on the tarmac at Chicago O’Hare airport for more than three hours on a single day in May when thunderstorms led to hundreds of cancelled flights. The Department of Transportation said Thursday that 16 planes waited on runways for more than three hours that month, the most recent for which statistics are available. That’s four times the highest number of any month since the rule threatening huge fines for such delays was implemented on April 29 of last year. No airlines have been fined yet because the government hasn’t determined if any of the delays warranted one.
India jet forecast hits $150 billion
Boeing has forecast a $150 billion market for passenger airplanes in India over the next 20 years driven by a booming economy. Indian airlines will need to buy around 1,320 new airplanes to meet the demand of an expanding aviation sector, Boeing India President Dinesh Keskar said Wednesday. India’s burgeoning middle class has switched from trains to flying.
EBay to acquire mobile pay firm
EBay Inc. is buying mobile payments provider Zong for about $240 million in cash so it can extend the reach of its PayPal online payments service. The online auctioneer said Thursday that Zong will help strengthen PayPal’s position in the mobile payments and digital goods markets. Zong lets people use their mobile phones to buy virtual goods inside social networks and online games. To use it, they enter their phone numbers, which Zong verifies and clears the payment. The charges appear on phone bills.
From Herald staff and news services
