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The Small Business Administration is working with NAFCU and NCUA on ways to get more credit unions engaged in small-business lending, SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet announced before a meeting of AARP last Friday.

"Effective today, we are making microloans a top priority. I've assembled a team of some of our best people at the SBA, highly skilled in microlending, to train credit unions to dramatically increase SBA microloans to encore entrepreneurs," Contreras-Sweet said in prepared remarks. "We're working in partnership with the National Credit Union Administration and the National Association of Federal Credit Unions to educate credit unions across the country about SBA products."

The goals aren't fully detailed in the speech, but the initiative is aimed at generating an additional $90 million in capital to small businesses annually. That's doable if 250 credit unions engage with SBA in making 10 loans a year averaging $36,000 each (the current average for SBA-backed microloans).

This initiative, which is just getting underway, is the latest in which NAFCU has participated to encourage greater credit union involvement in SBA's 7(a) loan programs. Several of the association's members have already committed to participate.

The good news for credit unions: Each loan dollar from the credit union that is guaranteed by SBA is excluded from the credit union member business loan cap, which can slow the pace at which SBA-partner credit unions hit their aggregate MBL cap.