A local bank secured more than $552 million in federal Paycheck Protection Program loan requests in Central New York since the US Small Business Administration launched the program last year. Everyone from dentists, doctor’s offices and hospitality services were forced to shut their doors when the pandemic hit, and the bank assisted more than 3,600 businesses in all.
M&T Bank’s Regional Manager for Business Banking of CNY Lee DeAmicis says the average loan size was slightly more than $153,000 in round one.
“…In the most recent round of applications the average size was $100,000, just shy of that number. The larger loans, the SBA is scrutinizing more for their work. But, we’re very pleased on how we took care of the small business market.”
The bank quickly established an online loan portal on short notice and more than 2,000 employees were also trained about how to process PPP loan applications. They call it digitally forward thinking.
“The 2,000 people were from across the bank system. They were able to quickly train on how to process the applications, provide the resources to them and work that through the system.”
DeAmicis says some businesses that didn’t qualify for the loans in round one did qualify in the second round as they called employees back and reopened. Now, the bank is starting to reach out to about 400 small businesses owners who forgot to apply to the SBA for loan forgiveness.
“We want to make sure that it gets forgiven. So, we’re going to get a list and we’re gonna go proactively reach out. Again, it’s data from our technology solution but, local folks reaching out to help our small businesses apply and get the forgiveness.”
The good news is DeAmicis says M&T is seeing more evidence of business on the rebound.
“For all those restaurants that are closed because they couldn’t pay for all of the expenses for the past year, a start-up restaurant now - if they timed the demand right - could probably do very well. We are seeing new business creation occur out there which is wonderful to see. Those seeds become the bigger companies down the road and employ more folks.”
For those still in recovery, he points out the SBA has additional programs such as the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and the Shuttered Operators grant, among others.
