For many small business owners, the first step on the credit ladder is the hardest, and they may miss opportunities to build business credit and grow their business while relying on personal credit instead. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by R&T Deposit Solutions — Amegy Bank EVP Jevaughn Sterling talks about Zions Bancorporation's Small Business Diversity Banking Program, organized as an "special-purpose credit program" under Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Sterling discusses:

• What defines an SPCP and how it is designed to improve access to capital by helping small business owners build business credit instead of relying on personal credit.
• How Zions designed the Diversity Banking Program to be tailored to the needs of disadvantaged small business borrowers.
• How loan terms may look similar and different for Diversity Banking Program participants.
• The nuts and bolts of designing, getting regulatory approval for, launching and marketing the Diversity Banking Program.
• Results seen, lessons learned and tips for other banks considering a special-purpose credit program.
• His own career journey as a commercial lender.

View ABA resources on special purpose credit programs.