The Export-Import Bank of the United States announced today it has signed a city/state partnership with the Tennessee Small Business Development Center International Trade Center to bolster Tennessee jobs by stimulating the state's exports.

The SBDC is housed at Middle Tennessee State University.

Read more here.

Local home loan provider Churchill Mortgage has announced the opening of its first physical branch in the state of Washington.

Industry veteran Tane Cabe will manage the branch for the Brentwood-based company. He will educate senior borrowers on the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage for Purchase Program, an FHA reverse mortgage program.

Previously, Cabe — author of Double Your Retirement Dollars, served as managing director with Security One Lending. Before that, he managed his own mortgage company for 11 years.

“The opening of our first branch in Washington is extremely significant in our efforts to provide our financial services to borrowers from coast to coast,” Mike Hardwick, Churchill Mortgage president, said in a release. “Tane’s strong banking experience and industry knowledge will be pivotal in growing Churchill’s presence as a leader in the Gig Harbor community, and we look forward to his success.”
 

Nashville-based Sitel today announced plans to hire approximately 3,000 employees at customer care call centers across the U.S. and Canada.

The latest round of hiring follows the addition of center-based and Sitel Work@Home associates Sitel hired in North America in 2012.

“Our business continues to expand at a rapid pace and we look forward to offering new employment and career path opportunities to thousands of people in North America,” Bert Quintana, Sitel president and chief executive officer, said in a release. “These new positions reflect the trust companies place in Sitel’s services.”

The new associates will support Sitel’s expanding business with companies in the retail, telecom and home entertainment industries. Agents will provide telephone, Web chat and social media customer care services.

Sitel provides telephone-based customer relationship management solutions and project management.

Global Trade magazine has ranked Nashville 41st among U.S. cities for international trade based on export volume.

New York City ranks No. 1, while Memphis comes in at 24th.

The reports notes Nashville generated $5.7 billion in export volume for the time period assessed, with the three countries to which the city exports the most goods being Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. Memphis recorded $11.1 in export volume.

Nashville’s main export items include computers, electronic products and transportation equipment.

Read the full story here.

Sales tax collections in Tennessee continue to climb and are now up 7.4 percent over this time last year, according to data compiled by the Business and Economic Research Center at the Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University.

Seven of the state’s 10 metro areas, including Nashville-Davidson County, show increases of 6 percent or more, according to the stats.

In January 2011, Nashville-Davidson County collected approximately $132.7 million in sales taxes. In contrast, the city collected about $143.3 million in sales taxes in January 2012, a seasonally adjusted increase of about 8 percent.

The BERC, in conjunction with the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, releases the data each month.

In other statistics:

• The average weekly claims for unemployment insurance in Tennessee dipped to about 6,590 for January 2012, the state’s lowest level since April 2008.

• The state’s unemployment rate for December 2011 was 8.7 percent, slightly higher than the national figure of 8.5 percent.