It's difficult to assess the value of Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC) announcement that it will buy more from small businesses; it pledged to buy $10 billion of goods and services from such companies over the next half-decade, with a 5 percent increase in spending every year.

This will include heightened spending on cleaning, furniture, advertising, courier service, legal service, home inspections, maintenance, photography, security and software. For all we know, Bank of America would have spent that much anyway. But it does make for a nice PR activity.

Of more consequence would be actual loans. Bank of America offered $19.4 billion in credit to small businesses during the first quarter 2010, about a 17 percent increase from the year-earlier period, notes Zacks. We are certainly seeing more banks tout small business initiatives, if only for PR purposes. Recall that Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) has launched an initiative to provide assistance, from counseling to financing, to 10,000 U.S. businesses.

For more:
- here's the article

Related Articles:
Suit accuses Bank of America overtime, pay abuses
Bank of America, a looming trading powerhouse?
Small banks turn to wealth management?