The value of outstanding small business loans in the $100,000 to $250,000 range rose 5 percent from June 2003 to June 2004, and the value of loans in the $250,000 to $1 million range jumped 8.4 percent. Loans of less than $100,000 declined in value, but that's probably due to accounting issues related to credit card account consolidation, SBA said.

Large banks accounted for two-thirds of loans under $100,000 but "remained passive" in the $100,000 to $1 million small business loan market, the study found.

"This poses the question of whether very large banks are moving away from higher-cost small business lending to lower-cost microbusiness credit card-credit line lending," the report states.

The top five small business lenders, based on June 2004 call report data, were American Express Centurion Bank, Regions Financial Corp., BB&T Corp., Synovus Financial Corp., and First Citizens Bancshares. For more information, see www.sba.gov/advo .

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