PPP Round Two: New Loans Top $72.7 Billion In January

A new report from the Small Business Administration (SBA) found that there were $72.7 billion in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans distributed in the month of January, with 891,044 loans approved. The lender count comes out to 4,942.

Broken down further, there were 226,336 first draw loans with the average loan being for $21,157. A total of 220,385 were for businesses with 10 or fewer employees, and 38,718 were for low- to moderate-income (LMI) businesses and those making less than $250,000.

There were a total of 664,708 second draw loans with the average loan size being for $102,228. There were 482,303 second draw loans for businesses with 10 or fewer employees. Of the ones for LMI businesses and those making less than $250,000, there were 133,640 loans.

The top lender for PPP was Bank of America with 35,627 loans approved for $1.9 billion, with the average loan size being $54,152. Second was J.P. Morgan Chase, which had 19,578 loans approved for $1.4 billion, and the average size of $69,890. In third place was M&T Bank with 9,381 loans approved for $1.2 billion, and an average size of $130,893.

Itria Ventures and Zions Bank were the next highest.

Broken down by industry, the report stated accommodation and food services received $13 billion in loans, construction received $10 billion, and professional, scientific and technical services received $8.2 billion. Manufacturing received $8 billion, and healthcare and social assistance received $7.5 billion.

With the new presidential administration in action, negotiations are underway for another stimulus package, PYMNTS reported. Amidst controversies about the next rounds of individual stimulus payments, there could also be more PPP funding coming down the pipeline whenever a new package is approved.

The SBA is working out improvements for the first draw PPP loan review to help smaller businesses get more time to access their funds. There will also be improvements to make it easier to apply for a second draw loan.