Main Street Matters Blog

If community bankers were waiting for the right time to contact Congress and urge needed reforms to the Paycheck Protection Program, the wait is over.

With the Senate considering Paycheck Protection Program reforms after the House passed its reform bill last week, now is the time for community banks to urge lawmakers to enact our recommended changes.

During the pandemic, three types of attacks and scams have risen sharply, and bankers should anticipate seeing more of these threats throughout the pandemic’s duration. This blog explains them and how you can protect your community bank.

With the pandemic representing a turning point in payments, community banks must take steps now to embrace digital channels without sacrificing the personal support customers expect from their community bank relationship.

The Small Business Administration last night issued two interim final rules on Paycheck Protection Program requirements.

The Small Business Administration just released long-sought guidance on submitting the initial SBA Form 1502 for Paycheck Protection Program loans. Lenders are required to submit the form to report on PPP loans and collect the processing fees on fully disbursed loans.

Necessity truly is the mother of invention. Community banks have all felt that over the past few weeks as they’ve implemented new innovations in response to the Paycheck Protection Program. But now we’ve moved into phase two: servicing these loans, which presents a new set of challenges.

Community banks had to beef up what they had in place and get creative to adequately address how to serve their customers amid a shutdown. And as the pandemic’s reach expanded, so too did the need to highlight the utility and usage of their digital offerings.

As parts of our country prepare to “reopen for business” what constitutes the new normal for our nation’s community banks will depend on several parameters. These include local pandemic conditions, state and federal guidance, business requirements and the needs of the local communities they serve.

What does $349 billion in government funding look like for an individual small business? A lifeline, according to many of the small businesses that applied for loans through the first round of the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program.