i am responsible for retail and small-business banking at iberia bank and also a member of the consumer bankers association there is. cba has been a recognized voice of retail banking, including small-business for the nation's capital for 90 years. in my position at iberia and cba and 21 years of experience and small-business funding, they understand the challenges we face an especially getting through current economic environment. for the past four years has resulted in less consumer spending and consumer spending is critical to boost sales of small businesses and make them healthy. the decline in sales in the economic conditions have led to weaker than normal and inconsistent demand for small business loans. in fact the nfib study found that for sale and uncertainty continue to be greater problems for small-business owners and access to credit. in addition to declining sales, another fact dirt diminish the demand for its value of home equity and as many of you know, home equity is traditionally a strong form of collateral that many business owners use to secure their business loans. t

sales office for iberia y. merger. mr. kottler started involvement of the consumer bankers association in 1995 as a member of cba's small business committee. is an extremely active over the last 16 years in his and his role such as chair of the number should committee and member of the board of directors for 10 years. mr. kottler has over 20 years of practical experience in providing small-business taxes to kaplan credit. mr. kottler thank you for your service to our communities and with cnn throughout the other states and i'm proud to have you testified before assaulted a. >> thank you. i think mr. landry used up all your time. [laughter] >> that will be a hard one to follow. i yield. good afternoon chairman raise and ranking member velazguez and members of the committee. i'm excited to be here today. i am bob kottler and i'm responsible for small-business banking at iberiabank and also a member of the consumer bankers association board of directors. cba has been to recognize voice of retail banking including

i will tell you that one of the reasons i came to iberia was to do more small business lending.t at our bank that's been an issue. the issue is really -- >> more broadly than your bank is an issue? >> it's interesting. i have attended some different forms over the last few years and some of the smaller banks have certainly raised that issue, but i will tell you from my experience that our bank is $10 million at the larger bank i don't think it was. >> my experience with our bank is similar in that we have capitalized that have been able ñ lend throughout the crisis.ñ we do have issues with loan los ññrves, and on a conventional basis they are looking moreññ closely because ofñ regulation and the types of collateral that they're able to use.ññññññ the equity values haveñññññ decreased, but we have availabl to us the way to make loans is to utilize the government guarantee. ñd we have been able to do that and to conserve capital because that's one of theñ major thing that that program allows us toñ do.ñ the credit worthiness of theññ borrowers, at the

i am responsible for retail and small business banking at iberia bank. cba has been of recognize the voice for small banking in this country for 21 years. i and my experiences from small- business lending, i understand the challenges that we face. over the past few years high unemployment has impacted consumer spending, which is critical to boost sales of small businesses. leading to weaker than normal in consistent demand for small- business loans. the recent study found access to credit. in addition to declining sales, another factor that has diminished the sales lending, home equity is traditionally a strong form of collateral that many business owners use to secure their business loans. study from the federal reserve bank of cleveland found the decline of home values has constrained the ability of small business owners to obtain the credit they need to finance their business. the decline in sales has affected small business lending. when banks underwrite loans, we look at two things. cash flow, both historical and projected, as well as collateral in