coming up, frank sorrentino, the chairman of connect one banquet tell us what the present lending environmenttelling him about the broader economy. >> the economic recovery may be slowing but there are signs of strength in the banking senate -- banking sector. in studio now by frank. welcome back. talk to us about the signs of economic strength that you are seeing in terms of small business loans and which areas still bring you concerns. >> what we are seeing in the last few years is there has been a tremendous pickup in construction loan requests, multi family construction loan requests, or different types of housing related lending are really on fire today. we are seeing incredible confidence. there is very little in the marketplace that is causing us concern in the lending environment. all lending last year was up over 25%. some stronger, some not as strong. those are terrific numbers for our market area. my colleagues are telling us a similar story. >> we surprised by that, given the ups and downs we have seen over the past couple of years? >> i think there have been ups and downs but it