II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2690 

To require the Small Business Administration to license new lending institutions to make loans under section 7(a) of the Small Business Act, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 10, 2021 

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina (for himself and Mr. HICKENLOOPER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To require the Small Business Administration to license new 

lending institutions to make loans under section 7(a) 

of the Small Business Act, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expanding Access to 

5 Affordable Credit for Small Businesses Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LICENSING OF SMALL BUSINESS LENDING COMPA2 NIES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(a)(17) of the Small 

4 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)(17)) is amended to read 

5 as follows: 

6 ‘‘(17) LICENSING OF SMALL BUSINESS LEND7 ING COMPANIES.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administration 

9 shall authorize lending institutions and other 

10 entities, including small business lending com11 panies, non-Federally regulated lenders, and 

12 non-depository lending institutions, in addition 

13 to banks to make loans authorized under this 

14 subsection. 

15 ‘‘(B) CRITERIA.—In authorizing lending 

16 institutions and other entities under subpara17 graph (A), the Administration shall ensure that 

18 each such institution or other entity— 

19 ‘‘(i) provides an independent audit by 

20 a third party or internal independent audit 

21 department that examines adherence to all 

22 applicable Federal anti-money laundering, 

23 terrorist financing, sanctions, and financial 

24 crimes laws and regulations; and 

25 ‘‘(ii) has in place a compliance pro26 gram that is designed to be in conformance 


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1 with all relevant anti-money laundering 

2 laws and regulations expectations described 

3 in the Federal Financial Institutions Ex4 amination Council Bank Secrecy Act/Anti5 Money Laundering Examination Manual 

6 and other regulatory guidance, including— 

7 ‘‘(I) an annual financial crimes 

8 risk assessment; 

9 ‘‘(II) designation of an anti10 money laundering Officer; 

11 ‘‘(III) a customer identification 

12 program; 

13 ‘‘(IV) customer due diligence and 

14 enhanced due diligence; 

15 ‘‘(V) suspicious activity moni16 toring and reporting; 

17 ‘‘(VI) information sharing; 

18 ‘‘(VII) record retention; 

19 ‘‘(VIII) sanctions implemented by 

20 the Office of Foreign Assets Control; 

21 ‘‘(IX) annual employee training, 

22 including general training and job23 specific training; and 

24 ‘‘(X) monitoring and testing. 


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1 ‘‘(C) PROHIBITION ON MORATORIUM.—The 

2 Administration may not impose a moratorium 

3 on the licensing of lending institutions described 

4 in subparagraph (A). 

5 ‘‘(D) NEW APPLICANTS.—Not later than 1 

6 year after the date of enactment of the Expand7 ing Access to Affordable Credit for Small Busi8 nesses Act, the Administration shall begin ac9 cepting applications for the licensing of lending 

10 institutions described in subparagraph (A). 

11 ‘‘(E) REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year 

12 after the date of enactment of the Expanding 

13 Access to Affordable Credit for Small Busi14 nesses Act, and annually thereafter, the Admin15 istration shall submit to the Committee on 

16 Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the 

17 Senate and the Committee on Small Business 

18 of the House of Representatives a report that 

19 includes, with respect to the year preceding the 

20 report— 

21 ‘‘(i) the number of lending institutions 

22 and other entities described in subpara23 graph (A) that applied to make loans 

24 under this subsection; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the number of lending institu2 tions and other entities described in sub3 paragraph (A) that the Administration ap4 proved to make loans under this sub5 section; 

6 ‘‘(iii) if the application of a lending 

7 institution or other entity described in sub8 paragraph (A) was denied, the reason why 

9 for each such denial; 

10 ‘‘(iv) the number and total amount of 

11 loans made by under this subsection by 

12 lending institutions and other entities de13 scribed in subparagraph (A); and 

14 ‘‘(v) demographic information on the 

15 recipients of the loans described in clause 

16 (iv). 

17 ‘‘(F) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 

18 in this paragraph shall be construed to provide 

19 authority to the Administration to regulate 

20 small business lending companies, non-Feder21 ally regulated lenders, or non-depository lending 

22 institutions.’’. 

23 (b) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be appro24 priated for the Office of Credit Risk Management of the 

25 Small Business Administration such sums as may be necVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:39 Aug 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2690.IS S2690

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1 essary to conduct oversight of lenders authorized under 

2 section 7(a)(17) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

3 636(a)(17)). 

Æ 


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