The Small Business Administration stopped approving loans when the Paycheck Protection Program hit its cap.

The move is part of an effort by CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger to help smaller lenders by significantly raising loan thresholds for collecting and reporting mortgage data.

The Small Business Administration stopped approving loans when the Paycheck Protection Program hit its cap.

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.

A trade group says suspending so-called beneficial owner rules would help financial institutions make more small-business loans through the Paycheck Protection Program.

Unlike in 2008, banks have become a steady force during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dean Bass, chairman and CEO of Spirit of Texas Bancshares, had taken a leave of absence after contracting COVID-19.

The Pennsylvania company said it faces $7.5 million in potential exposure from a commercial lending relationship.

By helping borrowers now, banks hope customers can quickly catch up on payments once the coronavirus pandemic ends. If they can’t, interest income will remain low and charge-offs could pile up if the crisis drags on.

A combination of digital and cloud capabilities, data gathering and regulatory experience should give smaller banks an edge over nonbanks.

Many banks were hitting their limits for lending to small businesses devastated by the coronavirus outbreak. They say the Fed's decisions to help fund additional loans and relax capital requirements will resolve many of their problems.

The agency overhauled its system for the Paycheck Protection Program on Wednesday. Lenders hope it addresses the access issues and a crash that bedeviled the effort’s first week.

Community advocates would like to see changes to the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, but say regulators should suspend such efforts until the coronavirus pandemic has passed.

Pinnacle Bankshares and Virginia Bank Bankshares said the move will let each bank focus more on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spirit of Texas Bancshares named an interim CEO for Dean Bass, though the company said he is recovering.

Measures that delay the Current Expected Credit Losses standard and reduce a community bank capital ratio are temporary, but the industry now sees an opening to argue that they should be permanent.

The Small Business Administration said lenders approved $71 billion in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program in less than five days.

The Small Business Administration’s loan processing platform went down Monday for as long as four hours, temporarily halting the ability of lenders to process loans for small business owners seeking relief from the impact of the coronavirus.

The government should encourage community lenders to offer six-month loan repayment forbearances to struggling businesses before it’s too late.

For many small providers, the coronavirus pandemic means falling revenue and rising expenses, as many either shut their doors to new business or staff up to deal with COVID-19 patients. Bankers say that means helping them bridge the cash-flow gaps until they can get back to business as usual.