Paycheck Protection Program

Lenders stock up on masks, Plexiglas barriers and cleaning supplies; lawmakers hope recent fixes will attract more borrowers, but small businesses remain wary after constant changes.

Members of the Small Business Committee signaled backing for broadening Paycheck Protection Program access for the smallest companies, encouraging participation by nonbank lenders and other improvements.

After initially processing the loans manually, the Minnesota bank turned to "low code" software to build the electronic forms and workflows needed to approve loan applications. The result: a more than fivefold increase in the number of loans it could process in a day.

Accountants, as well as lawyers and consultants, who helped small businesses apply for emergency relief funds through the Paycheck Protection Program want to be compensated. Are they entitled to be?

Small businesses that took out the loans will soon be applying for forgiveness; U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo and one of HSBC's large investors criticized the bank for buckling to Chinese pressure.

Activity in the Paycheck Protection Program has slowed in recent weeks, but Customers Bancorp and Fountainhead Capital continue to pursue loans aggressively in hopes of developing long-term borrower relationships.

Banks are looking to reduce their consumer credit risk exposure in the face of high unemployment; the drop in branch transactions is causing banks to rethink how many they need.

Lenders have a role to play in the national reconciliation that must follow the recent racial unrest — providing greater access to capital for African Americans and other underserved groups so they can build wealth, activists said at a panel discussion hosted by Berkshire Bank in Boston.

Big banks call for blanket forgiveness of PPP loans under $150,000; Wells Fargo struggling to stay under asset cap amid pandemic, CEO says; banks are getting aggressive — and creative — to boost profits; and more from this week's most-read stories.

Bankers said legislative fixes to the small-business rescue program should help more borrowers secure loan forgiveness, though new demand will likely remain tepid because the process is still extremely cumbersome.

Past is not prologue, and a successful strategy for becoming a top-performing bank in 2020 is very different from what it might have been just six months ago.

Bankers have become more uncertain about how to serve marijuana businesses owing to confusion about which states deem them essential.

Representatives of lenders as well as businesses that received pandemic bailout money told an oversight board Wednesday that delayed and confusing instructions from the government hampered the effectiveness of the main rescue program for smaller companies.

The bank’s Asia-Pacific chief backs law giving greater mainland control over the territory; the Center for Responsible Lending said big banks took in almost $12 billion in overdraft fees last year, with the bulk of it paid by lower-income customers.

The bill, which passed the House last week on a 471-1 vote, now heads to President Trump’s desk for his signature.

John Dugan says a successful effort by banks to alleviate the economic damage of the pandemic could boost the industry's reputation.

Automation and technology allow lenders to handle an evolving situation that changes by the day: adjustments are easily made to terms, timing and required data for loan forgiveness, says PayNet’s William Phelan.

The program is intended to aid businesses hit hard by pandemic-induced lockdowns, but lenders are lobbying to have the rules relaxed to help owners of stores and offices damaged by recent riots and looting.

The changes being sought would benefit both small businesses and banks, which would avoid the cost of servicing many low-yielding loans.

The Georgia company said the agency is looking at its policies for paying, or withholding, Paycheck Protection Program fees to borrowers' agents.