A 'turtle bank' plays catch-up in small-business lending

Provident Financial in Iselin, N.J., has partnered with a fintech to become a stronger small-business lender.The $9.8 billion-asset company is working with Fundation to offer unsecured small-dollar loans to commercial clients. While available in Provident's more than 80 branches, applications for loans as big as $250,000 are also being accepted online.“We wanted to offer something for our customers that was convenient," said Josephine Moran, Provident's director of retail banking. The goal is "to offer options to customers. We were searching for solutions for that part of our business.”