WILMINGTON – The need for capital is increasing as the demand for credit hits its highest point since 2010.

“Nearly one-third of small business owners are dipping into their personal savings to finance their business,” reported one of the country’s fastest growing banks, Wilmington-based Live Oak Bank, in its quarterly business report BusinessPulse, released on Thursday.

Meanwhile, more than 70 percent of businesses are also reporting negative sales impact – with half of small businesses report supply chain interruptions.

The increase in credit demand comes even as the US is awarding more than $600 billion in loans to small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Plan.

However, the news is not all bad.  Long-term expectations are somewhat optimistic, the company says, with around 76% of business owners expecting to maintain or grow their business in the nest five years.

“We know that the world has drastically changed in the last 90 days, and the banking industry has a really important role to play in providing capital to small businesses to help them make it through this,” said Live Oak Bank President Huntley Garriott, in a statement.

BusinessPulse provides detailed analysis and reporting on small business sentiment including economic position, economic confidence, and credit outlook for small and middle market companies.

Barlow Research surveys more than 2,800 companies annually across the U.S. to gather current viewpoints and draws on 10 years of data to provide in-depth research.

Launched in 2009, Live Oak Bank, a subsidiary of Live Oak Bancshares Inc., is one of the nation’s leading originators of small business loans.

To date, it’s lent more than $9 billion to small business owners nationwide.

Live Oak also founded nCino, the cloud-based lending platform in 2012 and then spun it out as an independent company.

Live Oak Bancshares is top NC firm on Fortune’s 100 ‘Fastest-Growing Companies’ list

Wilmington unicorn nCino processes over $30B in paycheck protection loans