Paycheck Protection Program

The latest bipartisan plan to accelerate the economic recovery would appropriate roughly $300 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, but the legislative package still faces long odds in the divided Congress.

Community banks that were pushed past key asset limits by the Paycheck Protection Program say they will be unable to shrink their balance sheets back to normal size by the 2022 deadline, especially if there is a new round of rescue aid.

Lenders want Congress to bring back incentives used during the last recession, such as bigger subsidies and reduced fees, to jump-start participation in the Small Business Administration's flagship 7(a) program.

Community development financial institutions, which tend to be less digitally savvy than traditional banks and credit unions, are developing online-lending platforms and automating backroom processes with investments and technical assistance from big banks, high-tech firms and other sources.

Regulators were receptive to Republican lawmakers' calls to ease burdens on banks that cross new asset thresholds as a result of their participation in the Paycheck Protection Program.