Banks with under $10 billion in assets approved about 60 percent of loans in the first round of the Paycheck Protection Program, the lending effort’s official name, according to the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration, the Wall Street Journal reported. The smallest banks performed even better: Those with $1 billion or less in assets account for just 6 percent of all U.S. banking assets, but they and other small specialty lenders approved nearly 20 percent of loan dollars. While big banks such as Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. favored certain customers, including big publicly traded ones, many community banks took all comers, hoping to sow loyalty and pick up some business. Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and other large banks put off taking applications for days until they had an online portal up-and-running; community bankers worked out of home offices and lightly trafficked branches to process loans immediately.
