Area's SBA-backed lending likely to increase with Citizens' entry. (Making the List).(Brief Article)

A burning question for Small Business Administration lenders in the Pittsburgh area has got to be what impact will be made in the local market by the advent of Citizens Financial Group Inc. beginning in 2002.

Having acquired Mellon Financial Corp.'s retail and small business lending operations, Citizens, Which is known as a key SBA lender in its home New England market, can likely be counted on to juice up SBA-backed lending in this area.

Mellon, which placed eighth on last year's list of the 25 Largest Pittsburgh-Area SBA Lenders (see this year's list, previous page), disappeared entirely from the radar screen during the SBA's fiscal …