The Fed's actions are designed to ensure the flow of credit to midsize businesses and state and local governments hit hard by the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Federal Reserve and other regulators are planning to grant a sweeping capital break for banks providing loans to small businesses as part of the government's response to the coronavirus-fueled economic crisis.
The bank will be allowed to exceed the limit to enable it to make more small business loans; the CEOs of HSBC and StanChart are also donating part of their pay to coronavirus victim charities.
Closed showrooms, temporary bans on repossessions and a sudden spike in unemployment have dimmed the prospects of a sector that has boomed since the last recession.
The agency overhauled its system for the Paycheck Protection Program on Wednesday. Lenders hope it addresses the access issues and a crash that bedeviled the effort’s first week.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote in a letter to the Treasury secretary that the Financial Stability Oversight Council should create a liquidity facility to deal with a flood of forbearance requests brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
They have asked the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the chief anti-money-laundering regulator, to let them collect customer information and verify it after the loan application is processed in order to speed approvals.
Community advocates would like to see changes to the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, but say regulators should suspend such efforts until the coronavirus pandemic has passed.
