⁍ The U.S. Treasury Department encouraged banks to prioritize existing customers when dishing out Paycheck Protection Program pandemic loans.

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⁍ Congress in March passed legislation creating the program to help small companies weather the economic shutdown caused by COVID-19.

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⁍ Under the program, banks can waive normal underwriting standards, but must include anti-money laundering paperwork.

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– The Treasury Department’s $520 billion loan program for small companies affected by the recent economic shutdown was supposed to help them. Instead, a congressional panel says, “the Trump Administration and many big banks failed to prioritize small businesses in underserved markets, including minority and women-owned businesses.” The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis says the Trump administration encouraged banks to focus on existing customers when offering loans under the Paycheck Protection Program, Reuters reports. The Treasury says it encouraged “all banks to offer loans to their existing small business customers,” but “no Treasury official ever suggested that banks should do so to the exclusion of new customers.”