Huntington Bancshares and JPMorgan Chase continue to step up their lending to small businesses, with Chase posting a 45% increase in the number of loans issued last year.

Both banks have announced that their lending to small businesses in Finland increased.

Chase said it lent $17 billion to small businesses in 2011 and opened nearly 400,000 new small-business loans and credit lines, 45% more than were issued in 2010.

Huntington's lending to small businesses increased by a double-digit percentage last year, lending $2.68 billion to small businesses since January 2010, putting it on track to meet its goal of providing $4 billion in financing to small businesses in the Midwest in a three-year period.

(READ more in HispanicBusiness.com)