Bulletin—April 2015

2013–14 CSBFA Annual Report

The Minister of Industry, James Moore recently tabled the 2013–14 CSBFA Annual Report. Below are some of the notable highlights:

• There were 5,622 loans valued at $852.8 million registered in 2013–2014. The average loan size was $151,688.
• Businesses in operation less than one year borrowed about $512.2 million (60.1 percent) of the total loan value.
• Accommodation and food services was the largest industry sector in volume with $316.2 million (37.1 percent) of the total loan value.
• Financing of equipment accounted for the largest share of loans by value (41.3 percent) followed by leasehold improvements (37.1 percent) and real property (21.5 percent).
• The amount of claims paid to lenders totalled $58.6 million on 910 claims, an average of $64,343 per claim. The claim payments were offset by $50.3 million in revenues from fees received.
• There were more than 258,000 visits to the CSBF Program website illustrating the high level of interest in access to financing.

The Minister noted that regulatory changes implemented on April 1, 2014 were "…designed to improve the program by enhancing the availability of financing to small businesses, better aligning the program with conventional lending practices and reducing the administrative burden of the program."

The full text of the 2013–2014 Annual Report is accessible on our website www.ic.gc.ca/csbfp which also contains the CSBF Program's historical annual data tables.

We welcome your comments and feedback on any points raised in this Bulletin. Please feel free to contact us.

New fax numbers

The Government of Canada is migrating from traditional desktop phones to Voice over Internet Protocol. As part of this change we wish to advise you that the fax numbers for the Program have changed:

343-291-1837 replaces 613-952-0290
343-291-2472 replaces 613-941-3316