Bank of America hires Kevin Kumar as small business banker for Redmond area

Bank of America (BOA) has hired more than 30 small business bankers throughout Washington to provide guidance and counsel to local small business owners — including Kevin Kumar for the Redmond area.

July 2, 2012 4:15 pm

Bank of America (BOA) has hired more than 30 small business bankers throughout Washington to provide guidance and counsel to local small business owners — including Kevin Kumar for the Redmond area.

Kumar is one of 10 new hires located in the Seattle metro area. These additions are part of the bank’s previously announced plan to hire approximately 1,000 small business bankers nationwide.

“Small businesses are without question the primary driver of the Washington economy. The hiring of our small business bankers will bring more expertise to business owners so they can remain focused on growth,” BOA’s Washington small business banker manager Roger Forman said in a press release. “In communities across Washington, Bank of America’s small business bankers will be meeting with clients on their turf to better understand their unique needs. By forging deeper relationships with clients, we’ll be able to help them meet their goals more efficiently, which in turn will help our entire state.”

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), there are 532,162 small businesses in Washington. These businesses account for over 97 percent of all employers and employ more than 50 percent of the private-sector workforce.

Through a small business banker relationship with BOA, clients will have convenient access to local small business expertise and a dedicated resource that knows their business, the release states. Small business bankers will consult with small business owners at their place of business and assess their deposit, credit and cash management needs.

In the first quarter of 2012, BOA extended more than $106 million to small businesses across the state, a six percent increase over the same period in 2011, according to the press release. This includes $60.8 million in new originations, which has helped enable BOA to exceed its national small business lending pledge to the White House and the SBA.

BOA also supports Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) by providing more than $200 million to finance small businesses that cannot qualify for traditional loans. The CDFI grant program, created in 2010 to unlock low-cost federal micro-capital for small businesses, has allowed CDFIs to access more than $102 million from the SBA and USDA, serving more than 9,000 local businesses and helping to retain more than 14,000 jobs.

For more information, visit www.bankofamerica.com.