Amazon Has Secretly Become a Giant Bank

Amazon.com (AMZN) - Get Report said Thursday that its Amazon Lending service has surpassed $3 billion in loans to small businesses since it was launched in 2011.

In the last 12 months alone the eCommerce giant has loaned over $1 billion to small businesses. Hiking up the sales for third party merchants is a plus for Amazon, as the company gets a piece of the transaction.

"We created Amazon Lending to make it simple for up-and-coming small businesses to efficiently get a business loan, because we know that an infusion of capital at the right moment can put a small business on the path to even greater success," Amazon Marketplace VP Peeyush Nahar said.

Over 20,000 small businesses have received a loan from Amazon and more than 50% of the businesses Amazon loans to end up taking a second loan.

Amazon's stock were unchanged by Friday's opening at $1,009.63.

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