Investment Trends: Track yields, not politics.

The Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp. again increased its loan activity last year, the organization’s president said.

WWBIC, which focuses on lending to women, minority and low-income entrepreneurs, closed on $7.1 million in loans during 2016.

That was up from $6.8 million in 2015, and about half again as much as the $4.8 million the group advanced to borrowers in 2013.

Approvals increased, too. WWBIC approved 155 loans totaling $9 million, compared with 140 loans, for $7.8 million, last year.

“It’s the best year ever,” WWBIC president Wendy Baumann said. “This has been sort of the story for the past couple years. We’re approving more than we approved the year before, closing more – a few points, but closing more than the year before.”

WWBIC closed 130 loans last year, up slightly from the 126 in 2015. Closings have remained in a narrow range since 2013 while the total amount lent has risen strongly. The increase in total lending has come with the organization’s 4year-old participation in a U.S. Small Business Administration program that allows WWBIC to make larger loans.

The organization appears to be on pace to increase its share of loans made to women, minorities and people with low to moderate incomes.

In Milwaukee, for example, 65% of the loans through Sept. 30 were to minorities. For all of 2015, 57% of loans in Milwaukee went to minorities.

WWBIC also has reduced bad-loan activity. In 2015, the organization wrote off 3.4% of its loans. The preliminary figure for last year, Baumann said in an email, was 2.1%.