The Post-Pandemic SMB Restart, Localized Payments, PPP Audits Top This Week’s News

It’s the end of the work week, and the PYMNTS Weekender is here to make sure you didn’t miss anything with the latest in payments and commerce news. We have deep dives into the small and medium-sized business (SMB) post-pandemic restart and localized payments in addition to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) news.

Top News

Mnuchin: All PPP Loan Recipients Will Face Audits

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said per reports that firms that borrow money via the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) can expect to be audited prior to forgiveness of the loans. He said, “One of the things that will be required is you will have to show a payroll report that you actually spent the money on payroll and other items that qualify for forgiveness.”

JPMorgan Chase Submits Nearly $18B In PPP Loans

JPMorgan Chase & Co. informed its small business customers that it submitted 220,000 applications this week to the PPP, with the information reportedly included in an email to clients whose loan applications had been submitted. The investment bank said it provided over $17.8 billion in relief.

BofA CEO Says All PPP Applications Should Be Funded

Brian Moynihan, the chief executive officer of Bank of America, says he thinks Congress should make the PPP large enough to help all small companies. Moynihan told CBS on “Face The Nation” Sunday (April 26), “It’s clear that between Congress, the administration and the American people, we need to get all these funded and not make this a foot race. Just get the work done.”

Hospitals Pay Price As COVID-19 Keeps Patients Away

The coronavirus is hitting the medical profession on multiple fronts at one time. Genuine health risks to frontline workers exist along with the shortage of personal protection equipment and concerns that patients will overwhelm the system in addition to a mounting economic crisis. Medicine is encountering a “triple-whammy” of bad conditions simultaneously per American Hospital Association President and CEO Rick Pollack.

Why Reopening The US Economy Should Be About Reinventing It

The challenges of reigniting the economy following almost two months of a near-total shutdown of the physical world, in addition to probably a longer partial shutdown, are a lot like the ones an entrepreneur encounters with a platform business that she wants to ignite and scale. It requires identifying critical stakeholders, making sense of their interdependencies, and forming a strategy to create critical mass.

Trackers and Reports

NEW DATA: Two-Thirds Of Main Street SMBs Are Not Ready For The Post-Pandemic Restart

The lion’s share of SMB owners remain attached to their pre-pandemic business models, despite the fact that they recognize that consumer expectations are changing. While 66.4 percent of all SMBs think eCommerce sales will make up a greater part of revenue following the coronavirus pandemic, only 38 percent plan to decrease the amount of physical space they use to sell products in store.

Why It’s So Hard To Kill The Check In The Booze Business

Business-to-business (B2B) payments come with more security and information than usual consumer transactions, and companies thus want more tools that can assist them in keeping careful track of their cash flow as well as inventory.

Digital payments are not always the tools that will meet these needs for businesses, who may still find that legacy methods like paper checks are more suitable.

Paper checks still represent simplicity as well as trust to many companies, Ernie Olsen, vice president of growth and engagement at liquor retailer Macadoodles said in a recent interview with PYMNTS.

Localized Payments Help Fashion eTailers Boost Cross-Border Sales

Merchants have to provide the correct payment options to appeal to clients in various geographical markets, which could mean supporting localized methods for online shopping payments.

Effective eTailers have to identify the correct payments mix to appeal to customers in all their target markets, according to Kai-Uwe Mokros and Rick Centeno, payments directors at Germany-based fashion retailer Zalando.

Fun, Cool and Otherwise Interesting

The Balancing Act Between PPP’s Letter And Spirit Of The ‘Law’

There are paths to follow the spirit and letter of the law in all manner of life where there are rules and regulation. And, during the past several weeks, there hasn’t been a shortage of headlines showing how the first tranche of stimulus funding designed to guard small businesses from the economic ravages of the pandemic ran short of expectations.

After COVID-19, ‘Un-Pausing’ Mortgage Payments A Daunting Challenge

The bills get postponed, get deferred and forbearance is the rule of the day. Then, they become due. And for at least some stakeholders in the approximately $11 trillion mortgage market, the ripple effects of attempting to chase down payments post-COVID-19 and getting documentation in place will be significant and take time as well as money.

Q1 Mastercard Earnings: Worldwide Debit, Prepaid GDV Grow 9.5 Pct

Mastercard posted results that illustrated a steep fallout in transactions as well as cross-border volumes, as measured year over year, as the quarter progressed, and COVID-19 impacted spending levels. The company said earnings per share were $1.83, while consensus was $1.74.

China Reopens But Consumer Spending Remains Weak

China may encounter a daunting task in getting its consumers to spend, even as the supply chain part of the equation begins to come back. Consumer behavior has shifted amid lockdowns and job cuts, as different sectors of making money (and avenues through which to spend) were darkened.