Most institutions interested in expanding business loans to customers and prospects lament the fact that they lack the ideal complement of top tier bankers.

At the close of 2013, the Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index (SBLI) reached its highest point in seven years.

The combination of increasing regulation, continuing sluggish economic conditions and rapidly changing consumer expectations is shrinking the revenue potential of the demand deposit account.

The banking industry has sadly lost its small business banking mojo in the past five years.

Just as baby boomers are predicted to have a large impact on entitlement programs, so are they also poised to be a primary driver of small business formation in the next decade and beyond.

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In the intensive search for new sources of profitable revenue, many financial institutions are missing one untapped source: cross-selling and upselling to existing retail consumer customers who also are small business owners.

Consultants and other industry experts frequently offer their solutions for success in small business banking.

It is accepted wisdom throughout the industry that small businesses represent banks’ best opportunity for higher spreads, improved fee income and superior relationship profitability.

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The state of small business banking at most banks, that is, their ability and willingness to serve the needs of small companies, is at its nadir.

The signs that credit remains tight abound.

Community banks are struggling in many areas of the country and there’s been much industry commentary on how this category of financial institution will have a difficult time competing with larger banks in the future.

Bankers have long puzzled over how to serve small business customers profitably, given that this market falls into a fuzzy grey area between retail and commercial banking.

In today’s sluggish economy, small businesses have not been showing much appetite for taking out loans, although there have been recent signs of a thaw.

Banks across the nation continue to robustly target the small business customer as a prime source of revenue and differentiation although the going has been tough lately.

While employment, manufacturing and retail indicators appear to point to an economic recovery, there remains a disturbing trend amongst America’s small business owners.