Pub. 8 2020 Issue 3

In response to the potential economic effects of the coronavirus, the OCC, FRB and FDIC (“the agencies”) published an interim final rule March 20 2020, proposing to revise the definition of eligible retained income.

Bankers have been crunching the numbers a lot lately, especially with the Paycheck Protection Program. In particular, we know many of you have been working with your small business customers to help them with loan forgiveness. So, we wanted to provide you with seven pointers to help shepherd your borrowers through the loan forgiveness application process.

The pandemic has forced many lessons on us, not the least of which is the importance of being prepared. I don’t mean being-well-stocked-on-toilet-paper prepared. I mean having the ability and resources to survive an uncertain and even perilous period. For businesses, that clearly requires having a well-crafted and tested business continuity plan. For households, the most important preparedness tool may be a well-funded savings account.

It’s important to all of us that bankers make good loans. Not just loans that get paid back, but those that drive growth and progress. This fuels our economy and increases the resources we have to make more loans and build our community.