Meng Urges Major Banks to Help Small Businesses with Applying for Coronavirus Relief Funds

May 6, 2020
Press Release
QUEENS, NY – U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens) announced today that she urged banks to assist small businesses with applying for coronavirus relief funds under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
In a letter to the five largest banks participating in the program, Meng and other New York Members of Congress called for designated bank staff to be available at branches to help small business owners with submitting their applications in order to speed-up and streamline the process.
The correspondence also calls on the major banks to partner with smaller, local banks in order to maximize the reach of PPP in local communities.
The PPP provides coronavirus relief funds through guaranteed loans to small businesses, and the loans are forgiven if certain conditions are met. The initiative, which is administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA), was created under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the third coronavirus relief bill that was passed by Congress and signed into law.
"The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused enormous economic harm to millions of New Yorkers, including to our many small businesses and their employees," said Meng. "Major banks must go above and beyond in helping main street and smaller banks in administering Paycheck Protection Program loans. New York City is home to over 200,000 small businesses. They employ close to half of the City's workforce, and make up 99.8 percent of all New York businesses. There is no doubt that small businesses are the lifeblood of the City and the many communities and neighborhoods in which they operate. They must get the help they need."
A copy of the correspondence can be viewed here, and the text of the letter is below.
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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.
Sincerely,