From the public loan data

The most active SBA acquisition lenders, ranked by what they actually approved.

Every SBA 7(a) loan is public record. We pulled the approvals the SBA flags as change of ownership, meaning loans made to buy an existing business, for the trailing two years in the June 30, 2026 snapshot, across the ten states we track. This is who is actually writing acquisition loans, ranked by count.

Talk through your deal See a written deal read

We are not a lender and we take nothing from lenders. This is data, not a referral. Reviewed against the July 2026 rules.

What this is

The SBA publishes every loan. Almost nobody reads it.

The SBA releases its full 7(a) loan file under FOIA, refreshed quarterly: every approval, the bank that made it, the state, the amount, and a flag for whether the loan financed a change of ownership. That flag is the acquisition market in plain sight. Rank by it and you can see which banks treat business acquisitions as a core line of work and which approve one occasionally.

Why that matters if you are buying: a bank that approved hundreds of change of ownership files has an underwriting team that reads them fluently. They know what a defensible addback looks like, how a seller note on standby works, and how a 7(a) plus 504 stack has to close. A bank that sees one acquisition a year learns those things on your file, on your timeline.

Method, so you can check us: SBA 7(a) FOIA dataset, June 30, 2026 snapshot. We count approvals flagged change of ownership with approval dates in the trailing two years, where the financed project sits in NY, NJ, CT, PA, MA, FL, TX, NC, GA, or AZ. Counts are per bank across those states; a bank's national totals run higher.

The ranking

Top 25 by change of ownership approvals

Two years of approvals through June 30, 2026, ten states. Volume is total approved dollars on those loans.

#	Lender	HQ	Approvals	Volume	Most active in
1	Live Oak Banking Company	NC	651	$867.1M	TX 150, FL 133, NC 80
2	The Huntington National Bank	OH	533	$451.1M	FL 164, TX 156, PA 53
3	First Internet Bank of Indiana	IN	221	$307.1M	FL 86, TX 50, GA 22
4	Beacon Bank and Trust	MA	124	$239.3M	PA 35, FL 35, NJ 10
5	Byline Bank	IL	109	$136.5M	FL 28, TX 26, NY 17
6	Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company	NY	102	$48.7M	NY 51, PA 19, CT 15
7	United Midwest Savings Bank National Association	OH	90	$79.5M	FL 32, TX 20, AZ 9
8	Newtek Bank, National Association	FL	83	$43.8M	TX 21, FL 21, NJ 10
9	Truliant FCU	NC	81	$127.9M	TX 15, NC 14, FL 10
10	Pathward National Association	SD	76	$154.3M	FL 21, TX 14, NY 11
11	GBank	NV	73	$234.3M	NC 24, FL 15, GA 12
12	Metro City Bank	GA	70	$143.0M	TX 37, GA 22, NY 5
13	T Bank, National Association	TX	68	$126.4M	TX 45, FL 6, NY 5
14	TowneBank	VA	58	$70.4M	FL 18, NC 16, TX 11
15	Rockland Trust Company	MA	58	$35.5M	MA 52, CT 4, NY 2
16	Celtic Bank Corporation	UT	52	$61.7M	TX 13, FL 8, GA 7
17	PCB Bank	CA	52	$47.4M	TX 35, GA 15, NY 1
18	The Bancorp Bank National Association	SD	49	$51.5M	FL 12, PA 8, AZ 8
19	Midwest Regional Bank	MO	48	$54.3M	AZ 25, FL 13, TX 10
20	The Fidelity Bank	NC	45	$39.9M	FL 22, NC 21, TX 1
21	Hanmi Bank	CA	45	$32.0M	GA 16, TX 13, NY 11
22	Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB	DE	44	$49.2M	PA 28, NJ 16
23	Zions Bank (a division of Zions Bancorporation)	UT	44	$39.6M	TX 27, AZ 17
24	Port 51 Lending LLC	NY	43	$73.2M	FL 14, TX 8, NJ 6
25	United Community Bank	SC	43	$37.2M	GA 15, NC 10, FL 10

Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA dataset, June 30, 2026 snapshot, change of ownership approvals only, trailing two years, project state in NY, NJ, CT, PA, MA, FL, TX, NC, GA, AZ. Counts and dollars are within those states. Updated quarterly as the SBA refreshes the file.

State leaders

The picture changes state by state

New York saw 257 change of ownership approvals across the 40 most active lenders in this window. Live Oak (53) and M&T (51) run nearly tied at the top, with Huntington (33) behind them; M&T is the standout hometown bank on the list.

New Jersey logged 213, led by Live Oak (45), Huntington (26), and Fulton Bank (17). Pennsylvania came in at 288, with Huntington (53), Live Oak (48), and Beacon Bank and Trust (35) in front.

Florida (757) and Texas (816) are the volume centers of this ten state view. Huntington leads both, with 164 approvals in Florida and 156 in Texas, and Live Oak close behind in each.

The pattern worth noticing: the national leaders are specialist SBA shops that lend in every state on this page, while each state also has one or two regional banks that punch far above their size at home. A buyer's realistic lender list usually has both kinds on it.

How to read it

Activity is fluency, not a recommendation

To be plain about what this page is not: we are not a lender, we do not broker or refer SBA loans, we take nothing from any bank on this list, and no lender knows it is on this page. Activity says nothing about rates, service, or fit for your deal. Which bank you approach is your call.

What the ranking does tell you: where change of ownership files are routine. That matters because acquisition loans die on structure, not paperwork volume. The earnings math has to clear the 1.25x coverage screen, the addbacks have to survive review, the seller note has to be worded the way banks accept, and since July 4, 2026 a stacked 7(a) plus 504 deal, up to $10M combined, has to close in the right order. Teams that see those files weekly catch problems early; the fix is cheap at the start and expensive at the end.

Our seat in that process is the buyer's side of the table: we build the financing story so it survives underwriting at whichever bank you choose. Our written deal reads name the lenders most active in a deal's state, from this same public data, so you walk in knowing the landscape.

Which banks are most active in SBA loans for buying a business?

In the SBA's own loan data for the two years through June 30, 2026, Live Oak Banking Company leads with 651 change of ownership 7(a) approvals across the ten states we track, followed by The Huntington National Bank with 533. Regional leaders differ by state; in New York, Live Oak and M&T are nearly tied at the top.

Does most active mean best lender for my deal?

No. Activity measures how often a bank approves acquisition loans, which usually means an underwriting team fluent in change of ownership files. It says nothing about rates, service, or fit for a specific deal, and this ranking is not a recommendation or referral. Which lender to approach is the buyer's call; what makes any file survive underwriting is the quality of the deal's numbers and documents.

Where does this data come from?

From the SBA's public 7(a) FOIA dataset, which lists every approved loan. We keep approvals flagged by the SBA as change of ownership, meaning loans made to buy an existing business, over the trailing two years in the June 30, 2026 snapshot, across ten states: NY, NJ, CT, PA, MA, FL, TX, NC, GA, and AZ. The SBA refreshes the file quarterly and this page follows it.

Know the landscape

Walk into the bank with the story already built

Thirty minutes, free. Bring a deal and we run the earnings math, the structure, and the state of the paperwork, and tell you straight what a lender's underwriting team will push on.

Talk through your deal

Want the written version first? The 48-hour deal read includes the lenders most active in your deal's state.

No retainer required to talk. hello@clariqadvisory.com