For the sixth consecutive year, M&T Bank was the top provider of SBA loans in the Buffalo district, a region that includes the eight Western New York counties. M&T made 189 SBA-backed loans totaling $23.6 million, up about $4.8 million from the previous year.

Alfred F. Luhr III, senior vice president for business banking at M&T, said the number of loans made to smaller companies increased by about 32 percent over the past year. He said more than two-thirds of all of M&T's SBA-related activity involved loans of $100,000 or less.

"We've long recognized the true economic value of small businesses, especially in a region where there aren't many Fortune 500 companies," said Luhr.

The SBA reduces risk to lenders by guaranteeing major portions of loans made to small businesses. The federal program enables many companies to obtain financing that might not otherwise be available to them at competitive rates.

Meanwhile, Fleet Bank made 106 SBA loans worth $5.4 million in the Buffalo area last fiscal year, an increase of nearly 300 percent in the number of loans.

Robert C. Novak, the SBA's deputy district director, said Fleet's one-year increase in activity is unprecedented in recent local SBA lending history. "Fleet is making an effort across the entire northeast in terms of making these kind of loans to small businesses," said Novak. "It's an impressive achievement."

He believes the increases in activity at Fleet, M&T and a number of other lending institutions reflect growing support for the SBA's Express Loans, a lending program that is designed to be more user-friendly. Express Loans accounted for almost all of Fleet's SBA lending activity last fiscal year and about 50 percent of the SBA-backed loans given by M&T.

Novak also noted that non-traditional, non-depository lenders continue to make in-roads when it comes to providing SBA loans to local companies. In recent years, institutions that do not fit traditional banking models have increased their market presence. For example, First International Bank, a Connecticut-based lender that services the area from a loan processing office in Rochester, has ranked among the region's top five SBA lenders for the past two years.

The SBA's 504 lending program, which provides long-term financing for major fixed assets such as land and buildings and is administered through a certified development company, participated in 10 projects that totaled $14.7 million.