Banks have nearly doubled their Small Business Administration lending in the Los Angeles area since last year, the SBA announced Thursday.

The number of SBA-backed loans made in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties jumped 51 percent during the government’s fiscal third quarter ended June 30. By dollar volume, SBA lending activity increased 93 percent.

A total of 1,725 SBA loans worth $851 million were made since the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1.

Stephen Olear, the acting SBA district director, said the Los Angeles office has worked hard to boost lending by doing additional training of bank lending officers on the availability of government-backed business loans.

The top five local SBA lenders were Well Fargo Bank, Center Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Superior Financial Group and CDC Small Business Finance Corp.