Lafayette-based MidSouth Bank, which recently held 14 town hall meetings across Louisiana and Texas to advertise that the bank has money to lend, will hold two more meetings: Wednesday in New Iberia and Thursday in Lafayette. MidSouth president and CEO Rusty Cloutier says there has been a mixed reaction to the meetings. “The series was a big success in that it helped us get the message out that we are looking for qualified borrowers during this time of economic uncertainty,” Cloutier says. “But we still encountered unwillingness among small business people to take on new debt even with small business loan rates at least two percentage points lower than a year ago.” In January, MidSouth Bank received $20 million in funds through the Capital Purchase Program of the federal Troubled Assets Relief Program. MidSouth is having second thoughts about taking the money.
MidSouth plans additional meetings
Sign up for the free Daily Report email – local news about the people, companies and issues that impact business impact business in Baton Rouge and beyond.
