Alberta small businesses to get $1B boost from two government financiers
by The Canadian Press
The Business Development Bank of Canada and ATB Financial plan to inject more capital into the sputtering Alberta economy
The BDC and ATB will each contribute $500 million to the first-of-its-kind program
CALGARY—Two government owned financial institutions say they’re teaming up to provide a billion dollars in new loans to small and medium Alberta businesses.
The federally-owned Business Development Bank of Canada and provincially-owned ATB Financial said July 15 that each will contribute $500 million in the first program of its kind between the two institutions.
The announcement follows BDC’s increase of $500 million in loans last November to bring its total commitment to Alberta businesses to $3.1 billion.
For its part, ATB has approved loans totalling over $6 billion to Alberta’s small- and mid-sized businesses and recently opened business centres to help entrepreneurs as well.
Both ATB and BDC say they are looking at more ways to bring in additional capital and liquidity into the province, and also recently announced special loan-relief measures to help clients affected by the Fort McMurray wildfires.
