While You Were Taking Care of Your Customers

For more than a year, community bankers have been hard at work saving the nation’s small businesses via the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The effort has been nothing short of heroic—and, from what I am hearing, PPP didn’t just provide short-term income for community banks in 2020; the relationships earned with new customers in the … Read more

IBC Bank Promotes Valdez to Bank Officer

On March 2, Laredo-based IBC Bank announced the promotion of Ernesto Valdez, commercial portfolio manager, to bank officer. As a bank officer in the commercial lending department, he will be responsible for maintaining a client loan portfolio of more than 300 accounts, as well as obtaining new loans. He will also be one of the … Read more

A Review of the 2021 Paycheck Protection Program

The 2021 release of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), which was signed into law on December 27, 2020. The new release of the program arrived at the right time, as the health of small businesses had deteriorated toward the end of 2020. In this report, we first … Read more

FDIC Issues Report on the Importance of Community Banks in Paycheck Protection Program Lending

An analysis of call report data from FDIC-insured banks finds that community banks are playing a vital role in supporting small businesses through the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Community banks hold nearly a third of all bank-held PPP loans, compared to holding only 15 percent of all bank loans, according to a … Read more

What was Different in the Second Round of PPP in Texas? Part Two of a Study of the Role of Community Banks in Texas

MARK GRIFFITHS, Principal, MG2 Investments LLCMIKE MAULDIN, Director of the Excellence In Banking Program, Texas Tech UniversityDREW WINTERS, Pickering Chair in Finance, Texas Tech University EDITOR’S NOTE: This research paper—part two of a comprehensive look at the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)—was provided by the Excellence in Banking Program at Texas Tech University and offers documentation … Read more

Did the Paycheck Protection Program Funds Get to Small Businesses? A Study of the Role of Community Banks in Texas

MARK GRIFFITHS, Principal, MG2 Investments LLCMIKE MAULDIN, Director of the Excellence In Banking Program, Texas Tech UniversityDREW WINTERS, Pickering Chair in Finance, Texas Tech University EDITOR’S NOTE: This research paper was provided by the Excellence in Banking Program at Texas Tech University and provides documentation and valuable insights into the remarkable efforts of community banks … Read more

Texas Tech Today Article Focuses on Dire Need for Community Banking

An article published recently in Texas Tech Today addresses the tremendous need for community banking and notes the recent high volume of Paycheck Protection Program loans that were processed by community banks as one example of the importance of these financial institutions. The September 2 article by Glenys Young, titled “Researchers Warn Community Banks Are … Read more

Pandemic Banking: A Prologue to the Future

“What’s past is prologue.” —William Shakespeare, The Tempest I cannot see the future. Honestly, I am struggling to keep up with the present—but I am taking notes. These notes will serve as the prologue for a future in which there will be plenty of questions about what banks did or did not do to put … Read more