Letter to CEO Braca, CEO Dimon, CEO Scharf, CEO Corbat, CEO Moynihan, and CEO Fairbank - Meng Urges Major Banks to Help Small Businesses with Applying for Coronavirus Relief Funds

Letter

Dear Messrs. Braca, Dimon, Scharf, Corbat, Moynihan and Fairbank:

As the economic toll of the coronavirus epidemic became apparent, Congress acted in a swift, bipartisan manner to provide aid to the American people, and particularly to small businesses to help them retain their workers. As the financial institutions you lead begin to process and disburse loans through the new Paycheck Protection Program, we want to express our concerns that many of the small businesses for which this help was intended will have difficulty taking advantage of this critical program and ask that you take steps to mitigate this.

We have heard from a number of businesses in our districts that they are having difficulty initiating applications for the Paycheck Protection Program and have received confusing and conflicting information on prerequisites for an eligible application. While Congress provided robust funding for the program, resources are still finite. This means some of the less-resourced businesses in our district, which employ thousands of our constituents, may get shut out of the opportunity to receive forgivable loans to help them retain their employees.

In order to address these concerns and make the Paycheck Protection Program a successful relief effort for Main Street businesses, we ask that you ensure all business banking touchpoints can assist businesses with the process of applying for the program. Additionally, given that many smaller, local community banks have deep relationships with businesses in our communities but may not have the infrastructure required to fully carry out the Paycheck Protection Program, we ask you to partner with local banks and other minority-serving banking and lending institutions including credit unions, Community Development Financial Institutions, and Minority Business Development Centers. We believe this will maximize the reach of the federal assistance you have been entrusted to distribute. Together with smaller banks, we believe the full benefits of small business assistance programs can be realized.

We thank you for your attention to these matters and look forward to working with you further to ensure our Main Street businesses are fully able to benefit from the assistance Congress has provided.