Collectively, community banks are critical in advancing the health and stability of the U.S. economy as evidenced by their participation in the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Community banks made 4.7 million PPP loans, totaling $ billion, which accounted for nearly 60 percent of the program’s total loan amount.
2 In comparison with the banking industry as a whole, these banks provided more loans to traditionally underserved communities and population segments: community banks provided 87 percent of total PPP loans to minority-owned businesses, 81 percent to women-owned businesses, and 69 percent to veteran-owned businesses.