SBA

Community banks that have used the Paycheck Protection Program to help businesses ride out the coronavirus outbreak are looking to turn that goodwill into deeper loan and deposit relationships down the road.

Queued-up loans. Extra bankers. Government tweaks to promote fairness. None of these precautionary measures has been enough for the second round of the Paycheck Protection Program to avoid the pitfalls of the first.

As banks accept new applications for the paycheck program, they are dogged by complaints that they prioritized wealthy borrowers. But lenders likely fast-tracked clients they knew best under difficult circumstances, observers say.

The Small Business Administration's systems froze up shortly after the latest Paycheck Protection Program was launched Monday morning.

The latest version of the business lending initiative has $60 billion set aside for smaller lenders, including credit unions, but there are concerns the money will be allocated just as quickly this time as it was during the first round.

The billionaire investor and entrepreneur sees problems with small businesses having to apply for loans to get coronavirus relief. He says a more efficient approach would be to let them run negative balances on their bank accounts.

Lenders are being urged to prepare applications for the latest version of the Paycheck Protection Program.

Lenders are set to flood the SBA with new PPP applications; long nights and weekends the new normal; Fifth Third rethinks new-branch designs in light of coronavirus; and more from this week's most-read stories.

The industry has always been somewhat reluctant to participate in Small Business Administration lending, but that could change if the agency manages the Paycheck Protection Program well going forward.

The policy move will allow small institutions participating in the Paycheck Protection Program to pledge business loans as collateral to obtain advances.

Lawmakers should approve a program to distribute stimulus funds using a government-sanctioned coin, which would be speedier than the current system.

A backlog has formed since the first round of Paycheck Protection Program funding dried up, threatening to further strain a platform that struggled to handle the initial workload.

Small-business owners applying for Economic Injury Disaster Loans could see another applicant's information if they hit the back button.

The program, created in response to the 2008 financial crisis, generated $19 billion in small-business loans. It could be used as a viable path out of the coronavirus pandemic.

The bill, which includes $310 billion in new funding, is expected to pass the House on Thursday; Chase has no timeline for returning but plans to bring back employees to offices in stages.

The House is expected to vote later this week on the bill expanding emergency relief for small businesses reeling from the effects of the coronavirus.

The House is expected to vote later this week on the bill expanding emergency relief for small businesses reeling from the effects of the coronavirus.

Small banks are a lifeline for many local businesses and should be given first crack at distributing funds from a continuation of the federal stimulus program.

The SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program is nearly depleted, but there are ways small banks and fintechs, with help from Congress, can remedy the situation.

Lawmakers are considering a plan to reserve Paycheck Protection Program funds for lenders with $50 billion in assets or less, a figure that would include nearly all credit unions.