Pub. 8 2020 Issue 2

www.uba.org 4 W ashington U pdate Rob Nichols President and CEO American Bankers Association CORONAVIRUS STRIKES. America’s Banks Step Up. T he world is grateful for all who have served on the front lines battling the COVID-19 crisis — the doctors and nurses who have put their lives at risk to care for the sick and dying as well as those who have kept our grocery stores and phar- macies stocked. These essential service providers are the pandemic’s heroes, putting the needs of others ahead of their own. There is another category of workers that also fits this bill. It’s the women and men who work for America’s banks. You, too, are first responders — not to the health crisis but to the economic crisis spawned by it. And if I could drive by your offices (home or other- wise) honking and holding up signs in appreciation, I would. Whether working from your main office or the kitchen table, in the first several weeks of the pandemic, you extended critical lifelines to countless households and small businesses suffering from the loss of income resulting from stay-at- home orders. From the loan officer who learned that the trick to getting into E-Tran (the Small Business Adminis- tration’s portal for submitting Paycheck Protection Program applications) was to try at 2 a.m. to the staff who put in