According to the Biz2Credit September Small Business Lending Index, institutional lenders and big banks reached an all-time high in terms of small business loans approved, while small banks experienced a slight decline.

Institutional lenders approved 62% of small business loans in September, up from 61% in August. The increased marked the 12th consecutive month of loan approval growth. Big banks, which have $10 billion or more in assets, also had an increase, approving 22.5% of loan requests as compared to the 22.3% recorded in August.

“The institutional lenders and big banks have hit their highest approval rates since the Small Business Lending Index launched in January 2014. Big banks are starting to get more aggressive in the marketplace while the flavor of the month is more capital coming from institutional lenders,” said Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit.

Small banks did not fare as well in September, approving 49% of loan applications, compared to 49.1% in August.

“Small banks and credit unions are seeing continuous decline as they are losing quality customers. The reason for this decline is their former customers desire faster approvals, a better online experience and bigger loan amounts, which small banks and credit unions are failing to provide at scale,” said Arora.