The Obama administration has been stung by criticism that Washington has taken care of Wall Street while ignoring Main Street. As a result, federal regulators issued a statement outlining policy changes designed to loosen lending to small businesses.

The statement on lending policies was issued jointly by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the National Credit Union Administration and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. Its official title is the “Interagency Statement on Meeting the Credit Needs of Creditworthy Small Business Borrowers.”

There’s a lot of finger-wagging in the statement that chastises banks for refusing to lend to “sound small business borrowers.” Along with that, the regulatory agencies took an understanding tone by noting that many banks tightened up in response to fears that regulatory auditors would hammer lenders for granting too many loans. So here comes the key part of the statement:

“[Federal and state] bank examiners will not criticize institutions for working in a prudent and constructive manner with small business borrowers.”

Translation: Use traditional formulas and practices to determine who’s qualified for loans. Then write loans to those qualified people. We won’t second-guess you if some of the deals go sour.

Now, no one should think the statement opens the gates to just anyone who walks  in and wants a loan. Those days are over. But the statement does show a glimmer of light for business borrowers who have sound credit.