Largest Banks Have Served Smallest Businesses Through Paycheck Protection Program

Largest Banks Have Served Smallest Businesses Through Paycheck Protection Program

Washington, D.C. – The Bank Policy Institute today released data from a survey of the nine largest retail banks.  The results are based on originations from the first and second round of the PPP and include data on the average loan size and the number of employees of the small businesses they served.

  • The average loan size was $115,000 (smaller than the program average of $130,000);
  • 64 percent of loans were for amounts under $50,000;
  • 51 percent of all loans went to businesses with fewer than 5 employees;
  • 75 percent of all loans went to businesses with fewer than 10 employees; and
  • 98 percent of loans went to businesses with less than 100 employees.

“These data clearly demonstrate that America’s large banks lent to America’s small businesses in extraordinary numbers,” said Greg Baer, President and CEO of the Bank Policy Institute.  “Moreover, more than half of the lending by the largest banks went to the very smallest companies – those with fewer than five employees — allowing them to better weather this crisis.”

The participating banks were the largest nine banks as measured by their amount of deposits outstanding (Bank of America, Capital One, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, PNC, TD Bank, Truist, US Bank and Wells Fargo), and disbursed nearly 1 million PPP loans to small businesses.

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About the Bank Policy Institute. The Bank Policy Institute (BPI) is a nonpartisan public policy, research and advocacy group, representing the nation’s leading banks and their customers. Our members include universal banks, regional banks and the major foreign banks doing business in the United States. Collectively, they employ almost 2 million Americans, make nearly half of the nation’s small business loans, and are an engine for financial innovation and economic growth.