A bank’s perspective on how local companies helped your business get a PPP loan
Arecent Small Business Administration report of PPP loans ranked on assets used for PPP loans showed that six Utah banks leveraged about 30% of their assets or more toward those loans over the past year. These six banks were also in the top 40 of all 4,000+ banks participating in the PPP loan program.
- WebBank, Salt Lake City
- Celtic Bank Corporation, Salt Lake City
- Continental Bank, Salt Lake City
- LCA Bank Corporation, Park City
- Cache Valley Bank, Logan
- TAB Bank, Ogden
Utah’s entrepreneurial spirit has always backed small businesses, and Utah banks delivered substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What’s interesting is these banks cover different industries and have various business models. For example, WebBank is an industrial bank that used its strategic partners, such as Lendio, to offer loans. Cache Valley bank serves both businesses and individuals statewide. Continental Bank specializes in commercial equipment financing, while TAB Bank is an online bank that started in the transportation industry and now serves companies and individuals in numerous sectors.
While these Utah banks’ numbers are impressive, what’s more impressive is the effort and dedication by individuals at these banks to help small businesses obtain PPP loans. As president at TAB Bank, I witnessed how our bank employees worked literally day and night to help companies get loans.
At TAB Bank, the I.T. department worked 24/7 for 72 hours straight. About 1/3 of the staff focused entirely on processing PPP loans during the first round — from marketing to executives, me included. Several employees made it their mission to make sure small businesses received their loans.
When round two of the PPP loans was announced, we realized that time, muscle and grit weren’t going to be enough, so we turned to technology to help us leverage our resources exponentially to help more businesses. As with round one, we had to work with multiple changes to the PPP regulations.
Because the requirements and regulations of PPP loans were constantly changing, both applicants and customers had to adjust numerous times, which sometimes was frustrating to companies that really needed loans. TAB’s employees didn’t give up on these businesses and worked with them through each requirement and change, so they weren’t left out. We even processed one loan for $150.
It was a tremendous effort by everyone at the bank to collaborate and partner together. We flattened the organization’s structure so we could all work together to process the loans. Any silos between departments that might have existed broke down, creating better unity among our employees, which has improved working relationships long after completing PPP.
For the first round, we processed 1,700 loans with an average loan amount of about $90,000, helping more than 20,000 employees nationwide.
When round two of the PPP loans was announced, we realized that time, muscle and grit weren’t going to be enough, so we turned to technology to help us leverage our resources exponentially to help more businesses. As with round one, we had to work with multiple changes to the PPP regulations. However, our fintech partner was tremendous, and they too worked around the clock to adjust to each change and customer need.
During the second round, TAB processed nearly 9,000 loans at an average value of $40,000, helping more than 33,000 employees. Additionally, 70% of the loans TAB processed were to minority, women or veteran owned businesses. What we’re most proud of at TAB Bank is that the average loan amount — 70% of the loans were below $50,000 — shows how many small businesses benefited from that second round. And, we achieved that higher number of businesses served using half as many TAB employees dedicated to PPP compared to round one.
In total, we processed half a billion dollars in loans, helping more than 50,000 employees across the country. We know this is just one story of helping companies get through the pandemic. We know numerous banks in Utah executed some heroic efforts to save businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you to the Utah bank employees that participated so strongly in those efforts. Utah did more than its share providing loans for the nation’s small businesses.
Curt Queyrouze is the President and CEO at TAB Bank — overseeing all strategic, financial, credit, and operational functions. Curt has amassed more than 30 years of commercial finance and commercial banking experience. He believes strongly that small- and medium-sized businesses are the heart of our nation and that they deserve our enthusiastic support.
