IberiaBank is recruiting employees from across the company to help process Paycheck Protection Program applications, helping it fund $1.2 billion to its clients as of April 18.
The bank saw more than 9,500 applications systemwide in the first round of funding before the program ran out of money April 16, IberiaBank North Florida Market President Abel Harding said.
IberiaBank is based in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has locations in Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Missouri and New York.
President Donald Trump signed a $484 billion coronavirus relief bill April 24 replenishing the PPP fund with $310 billion.
Harding predicts the second round of funding will go “very quickly.” He recommends businesses to have their applications in and their documents ready.
“I think there is a built-up demand. The longer this resolution to replenishing the pot has dragged on, there is more pent-up demand that has manifested itself,” he said.
Between the fund running out of money and it being replenished April 24, the bank continued to receive and process applications. Employees from its communications, marketing and finance departments helped work through applications.
“Our teams have continued to work around the clock to prepare so we can position our clients the best we can,” Harding said. “We are still processing applications. It is an all-hands-on-deck situation.”
Harding said the bank was able to reserve $1.7 billion of the $1.9 billion in funding it requested.
Application processing was not smooth at the start. Like many other banks, Harding said IberiaBank was slowed as it waited on guidance from the SBA.
Once that became more clear, IberiaBank was able to communicate what was needed to its clients to expedite the process.
“There was a lag industrywide with getting an understanding of that,” Harding said. “But I think once we got comfortable, we moved forward very quickly. I think we recognized early on that this was going to be a very manual process and basically shifted the bulk of our workforce to it.”
Harding said with a program that originated as quickly as the PPP did, hiccups in the process were to be expected from all sides, including the federal government, lenders and applicants.
IberiaBank processes 80 SBA loans in a typical year.
“Compare that with doing 9,500 in less than a three-week time frame, that speaks to what had to go on behind the scenes to make that happen,” he said. “So it is just patience and teamwork. Those have been the key ingredients to this.”