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  • SBA, Treasury announce guidance on PPP loan processing

    Federal Issues

    On April 26, the Small Business Administration (SBA) updated information regarding the operations of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to supplement an April 24 statement from the SBA and the Department of Treasury (Treasury) announcing that the PPP would restart. Through funding from the PPP and Health Care Enhancement Act signed on April 24, the SBA’s PPP resumed processing loan applications on April 27. The SBA also issued a guidance memo for lenders describing XML file transmission of completed loan applications. The memo advises that lenders may send one bulk submission each of no less than 15,000 loans, which the SBA will process into their E-Tran system. Lenders will then receive one file from the SBA providing loan guarantee numbers and loan amounts for approved applications, as well as a report of loan applications that were not “successfully processed by the SBA loan systems.” The SBA update details additional actions it will take when processing loans, which include: (i) “[p]acing the number of loans processed in the E-Tran system”; (ii) limiting each lender to originating a maximum of 10 percent of the PPP funds available, (iii) “[i]mplementing operational standards to ensure that lenders access PPP funds based on their asset size”; (iv) making certain that applications are processed in the order submitted; and (v) providing guidance to lenders with “a significant amount of loan applications.”

    Federal Issues Agency Rule-Making & Guidance SBA Department of Treasury CARES Act Covid-19 Small Business Lending

  • SBA, Treasury issue guidance on calculating the maximum PPP loan amount

    Federal Issues

    On April 24, the Small Business Administration along with the Department of Treasury issued guidance on payroll costs and determining the maximum Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan amount for which a small business can apply. The guidance—organized by business entity type—contains nine questions with answers that address the self-employed, partnerships, corporations, nonprofit organizations, nonprofit religious and veterans’ organizations, tribal businesses, and limited liability companies. Small businesses must also document that they were in business as of February 15, 2020. The guidance notes that “[t]he U.S. government will not challenge lender PPP actions that conform to this guidance.”

    Federal Issues Agency Rule-Making & Guidance Department of Treasury SBA CARES Act Covid-19

  • OCC reminds banks of its exclusive visitorial authority

    Federal Issues

    On April 24, the OCC issued Bulletin 2020-43 to “remind[] banks that it has exclusive visitorial authority over them.” The bulletin states that it is important for banks to quickly provide the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program loans to small businesses. As such, state and local officials cannot examine banks’ books and records without prior authorization such that they attempt to exercise visitorial authority. Moreover, banks are not required to comply with such requests, and are further encouraged to contact their OCC examiner regarding any state and local requests. State and local officials are likewise encouraged to contact the OCC with any information or questions.

    Federal Issues Agency Rule-Making & Guidance OCC Examination SBA Small Business Lending Covid-19

  • Special Alert: Regulators provide important guidance on next wave of PPP funding

    Federal Issues

    President Trump on April 24 signed the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, adding $310 billion in funding to the $350 billion initially appropriated to the program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The Federal Reserve Board, Treasury Department, and the Small Business Administration have issued important guidance in recent days related to loan participations, additional Fed support, borrower eligibility, and loan forgiveness. The SBA and the Fed have also provided more information on electronic execution and collection of loan documents, as the importance of digital loans continues to loom large with signatories working remotely.

    Federal Issues Department of Treasury SBA Small Business Lending Covid-19 Special Alerts

  • Lawmakers request SBA investigation of PPP lenders

    Federal Issues

    On April 23, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez sent letters to the Inspectors General (IG) of the Department of Treasury and the Small Business Administration (SBA). On the same day, Senators Schumer (D-NY), Brown (D-OH), and Cardin (D-MD) also sent a letter to the SBA IG. The letters requested that the IGs investigate the administration of loan applications for the SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in order to detect any preferential treatment provided by lenders to certain applicants. The letter from Warren and Velazquez cited numbers released by the SBA, which they suggested indicated that smaller businesses have been receiving proportionally less of the PPP funds than much larger businesses. Schumer, Brown and Cardin requested that the SBA IG reply to the letter by May 8 with a recommendation on the SBA rules, regulations, and policies and procedures “to ensure small businesses get the money they need and are being treated fairly” by PPP lenders. Their letter expressed concerns that underserved, rural, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses need financial assistance immediately, and the lack of a previously-existing banking relationship should not place them lower in the lender’s queue preventing them from receiving PPP loans.

    Federal Issues Congress Department of Treasury SBA CARES Act Covid-19

  • FHFA allows PPP loans as collateral for FHLB advances

    Federal Issues

    On April 23, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLB) will begin to accept Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans as collateral for advances to provide liquidity to community banks and other small lenders. FHFA issued a letter to FHLBs advising that banks may accept PPP loans from members subject to certain conditions including: (i) CAMELS rating must be at least a three, or credit rating in the top 60 percent; (ii) members downgraded after pledging PPP loans as collateral will have additional conditions placed on the collateral; and (iii) if the member does not replace PPP loans after downgrade with alternate eligible collateral, the FHLB will take possession of the collateral and impose haircuts based on member rating. The letter also sets out additional conditions regarding discounts, caps and limits. Among these conditions: (i) FHLBs must have at least a 10 percent collateral discount on 100 percent or less of unpaid principal balance (UPB); (ii) PPP collateral is capped at 20 percent of a member’s “lendable pledged collateral”; and (iii) a member may not pledge PPP loans for more than $5 billion of lendable collateral.

    Federal Issues Agency Rule-Making & Guidance FHFA SBA CARES Act FHLB Small Business Lending Covid-19

  • Fed IFR allows unlimited monthly convenient transfers and withdrawals

    Federal Issues

    On April 23, the Fed issued an interim final rule (IFR) which will remove the limit on monthly transfers from “savings deposits” in Regulation D. The IFR revises Regulation D’s definition of a savings deposit so that it no longer includes the monthly convenient transfer limit of six. The IFR permits, but does not require, institutions to suspend enforcement of the six transfer limit. The IFR contains frequently asked questions and answers on the impact it will have on accounts, reporting and funds access. The Federal Register announcement is linked here. Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council reports that may be affected by this IFR will be addressed later. The IFR took effect on April 23, and the Fed will accept comments until June 22.

    Federal Issues Agency Rule-Making & Guidance Federal Reserve SBA Regulation D CARES Act Covid-19

  • Fed to issue monthly reports on CARES Act loan programs

    Federal Issues

    On April 23, the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) announced that in an effort to maintain transparency, it will disclose information to the public regarding recent actions it has taken to “foster economic recovery.” Among the information it will make public, the Fed plans to issue a monthly report on CARES Act liquidity and lending facilities which will contain the: (i) “[n]ames and details of participants in each facility”; (ii) “[a]mounts borrowed and interest rate charged”; and (iii) “[o]verall costs, revenues, and fees for each facility.” The Fed will provide this information on four CARES Act programs including the Main Street Lending Program (see Buckley Special Alert here).

    Federal Issues Agency Rule-Making & Guidance Federal Reserve SBA CARES Act Covid-19

  • Class actions accuse banks of prioritizing existing customers and high-dollar loans

    Federal Issues

    On April 23, a small business filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against a large bank for allegedly ignoring the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) “regulations for administering, processing, and handling” loan applications. The complaint claims that the bank disregarded a requirement to process loans in the order that they were submitted, and also contends that the bank made false and misleading statements to conceal the fact that high dollar loans were moved to the front of the processing queue in order for the bank to obtain higher fees. The class action seeks certification of the class, injunctive relief, disgorgement, and punitive and statutory damages, among other things.

    On April 22 in a separate class action based on similar facts and allegations, a small business owner filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against a different large bank. The business owner filed the motion in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division to prevent the bank from applying “illegal eligibility requirement[s]” to the Small Business Administration-guaranteed PPP loans. The motion claims that the bank was only processing loan applications from the bank’s existing business customers in disregard for the CARES Act and Interim Final Rule instruction to administer the PPP loans to all customers, existing and new. In addition to the temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, the motion requests that the bank issue a public statement that their existing business customer eligibility requirement is no longer in effect. In an order issued on April 29, the court denied the business owner’s motion for a temporary restraining order and deferred ruling on the preliminary injunction until after a hearing.

     

    Federal Issues Department of Treasury SBA Small Business Lending Courts Covid-19 CARES Act

  • Treasury, SBA weigh in on PPP loan certification and secondary market sales

    Federal Issues

    On April 23, the Department of Treasury, and the Small Business Administration (SBA) updated their frequently asked questions (FAQs) list for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to address whether a business owned by a large company is eligible for a PPP loan. A small business borrower must certify, in good faith, that at the time an application was submitted for a PPP loan, the borrower believed that the economic situation created by the Covid-19 pandemic made it necessary to apply for the loan in order “to support the ongoing operations” of the company. The FAQ instructs the borrower to consider other sources of liquidity other than PPP funds that could support the borrower’s current business activity. Though lenders may rely on the borrower certification of need, the guidance points out that a borrower must have a good faith basis necessitating the loan. Moreover, the guidance suggests that a public company with “substantial market value and access to capital markets” would likely not be able to make this good faith certification. For small businesses that applied for a PPP loan before the issuance of this FAQ, the SBA will find that the borrower certification was made in good faith if the borrower’s PPP loan is repaid by May 7, 2020.

    Earlier on April 17, the SBA added FAQ number 30 to its FAQ list, which asked whether a PPP loan may be sold into the secondary market. The guidance provided by the SBA and the Department of Treasury reiterated information from the interim final rule issued on April 2, which implemented sections 1102 and 1106 of the CARES Act regarding sales into the secondary market:

    • “A PPP loan may be sold into the secondary market at any time after the loan is fully disbursed.”
    • “A secondary market sale of a PPP loan does not require SBA approval.”
    • “A PPP loan sold into the secondary market is 100% SBA guaranteed.” and
    • “A PPP loan may be sold on the secondary market at a premium or a discount to par value.”

    Federal Issues Agency Rule-Making & Guidance Department of Treasury SBA CARES Act Covid-19

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