Bowman, Supporting Small Businesses

Vice Chair Bowman said small businesses remain a key growth engine but credit conditions are still tight, with banks holding about $600bn in business loans originated under $1mn and the smallest banks accounting for nearly one-third of that exposure. She highlighted that even large banks remain active lenders to smaller firms, providing 18% of business loans below $1mn and 33% of loans below $100,000 as of Q2 2025. Bowman pointed to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Small Business Lending Survey, where 9% of banks on net reported tightening C&I standards to small firms in Q3 2025; among those tightening, 83% cited economic uncertainty. At the same time, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Index showed 44% of firms expect to increase investment and 42% expect to add staff over the next year. For precious metals, the message is mildly supportive on the margin: tighter credit and persistent economic uncertainty reinforce the growth-slowdown / policy-easing narrative that can underpin gold demand, while stronger small-business investment and hiring expectations would argue the opposite. The speech does not give any direct monetary-policy shift, but traders will watch upcoming Fed commentary and credit data for confirmation that lending standards remain restrictive into Q2.