Community Bank Impact in PPP Lending

Village Bank and thousands of other community banks around the country have stepped up since April 3 for the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program. Villagers and community bankers have worked day and night to help small business owners understand, get questions answered, apply for, and get funds from this program. They’ve worked so hard because they understand what this loan program means for their small business owner friends and community members, so let’s take a few minutes to look at the numbers of the Paycheck Protection Program and send applause to everyone involved in pulling off this feat to support local businesses.

Starting as local as we can, the numbers above are from our Village. Since April 3, our Villagers have approved nearly 500 PPP loans in the amount of just below $65 million. 500 local businesses were able to pay their employees, continue to provide health care and retirement benefits to employees, pay their rent, and keep the lights on in their business (figuratively and literally). 500 members of our Village were able to give the families that work for their businesses hope that they will survive and come out of these difficult times stronger. 500 local businesses were able to keep their entrepreneurship dreams alive and continue doing what they love to do—serving their community making delicious food, repairing homes, helping people live healthier lives, and so many other ways of serving.

Let’s take one step up and look at Minnesota’s PPP numbers:

Community banks and other lenders across the state of Minnesota have worked diligently to approve more than 89,000 loans that amount to more than $11 billion for small businesses around the state. After the first round of PPP funding, Minnesota was in the top 12 states and territories in the country for approved loan amounts. We are proud to be one of the hundreds of small community banks in Minnesota, a state with a strong history of community banking, that continues to serve our community through challenging times.

Let’s take one more step up and look at the impact the Paycheck Protection Program has had nationwide for small businesses.

After the first round of funding, the SBA shared that in 14 days they approved more than 14 years’ worth of loans. Banks across the nation have never approved or even seen 4 million loans in the amount of $531 billion come through their businesses in history, and especially in the short time since the program launched.

We can also see that the average loan size in the second round of funding has been reduced dramatically from $206,000 to $73,000. The loan amounts are based on average payroll expenses for the business, so smaller loans mean smaller businesses without the corporate cushion for survival in challenging times. This reduction in average size tells us that the small businesses that we walk by on Main Street and the sole proprietors who risk everything for their entrepreneurship dreams are now getting the PPP funds that they desperately need.

We also see the numbers for lender sizes nationwide here:

Nearly a third (32%) of second-round funding has come from the small, local, family-owned, community banks that have supported their communities for years. Village Bank is one of those banks. During these unprecedented times, we could not be prouder of our Family-Built, Community Strong Village for making an impact on our community that will not be forgotten. In fact, their impact has made community banking cool, which excites us for the future as we remember that we will remain Community Strong as we navigate the future together.

*All numbers are from the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program Round 1 Report and Round 2 Report. They capture the total as of May 8, 2020, from the first and second rounds of PPP funding.

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