8 The title alone captures why community banks were so important for small businesses seeking PPP loans—small banks offer a personalized level of customer service that big banks do not. It is also striking that smaller community banks were the predominant lenders despite having a smaller staff and while facing lobby closures and other workforce challenges due to COVID-19.
Several of the bankers I spoke with worked from home, when they couldn’t open their banks. They worked overtime in drive-through facilities. They worked, in one case, inside a makeshift “disaster recovery site.” Through all the ups and downs and closures and reopenings, they persevered.