Newtek Small Business Finance Has Funded Over $500M For PPP

Newtek announced on Monday (April 27) that its lender program, Newtek Small Business Finance (NSBF), has funded $518.2 million in loans for the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), according to a press release.

The company estimated that this has been able to help 66,000 employees of borrowers from Newtek stay on the payroll.

The NSBF estimated it has another $24.9 million in PPP loans that will be funded later this week by the Small Business Administration (SBA), the release stated. That would bring the company’s total funding to $543.1 million from the first iteration of the PPP.

NSBF has funded around 90 percent to 95 percent of the loans which it received requests for, the company said in the release.

Barry Sloane, Newtek’s chairman, president and CEO, said he was “thrilled” the company was able to provide such vital funds.

Newtek isn’t done with the loans yet, it said in the release. NSBF has another $900 million in loans ready for use during the second $310 billion round of PPP funding passed last week by Congress. That would bring NSBF’s total loans to around $1.5 billion.

The company said in the release that it isn’t sure of the exact number of people that will be helped by these funds, but it estimates that as many as 130,000 employees of various borrowers could be retained on payroll as a result. The loans are aided by referrals and financing from Newtek partners Stifel Financial Corp. and UBS, among others, whom Sloane thanked for their contributions.

The original run of the PPP, passed in late March, was expended down to nothing by April 16, at which time many businesses had not been paid. The second round was passed last week. Due to complaints about publicly traded companies receiving money the first time, the guidelines will now be more stringent.

“It is unlikely that a public company with substantial market value and access to capital markets will be able to make the required certification in good faith, and such a company should be prepared to demonstrate to SBA, upon request, the basis for its certification,” the SBA said.