By the time the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ran out of money this week, Maryland-based Capital Bank, N.A., had been able to help 597 small-business PPP applicants get Small Business Administration (SBA) authorization for federal aid totaling over $173 million. All but a few of those small businesses are here in the DMV region. The Bank anticipates having the required loan closing and booking details to fund the loans wrapped up in about a week.
"We of course hope Congress approves additional PPP funding so we can help even more small businesses secure the aid they desperately need," said Capital Bank, N.A., CEO Edward Barry, "but we are elated to have been able to help this enormous number of applicants successfully get through the SBA's process and obtain PPP loans."
Barry added that this was truly a herculean effort by Bank staff, involving new website functionality and an all-hands-on-deck customer-service focus on helping small businesses. Throughout, the Bank shepherded applicants through the process to rapidly help as many as possible — including small businesses that had no prior relationship with Capital Bank.
Even before the SBA had finalized its PPP rules, the Bank built—in only five days—a special portal to which PPP applicants could upload SBA-required information even expanding its electronic signature functionality for all loan and deposit applications. Then Bank staff completed the loan applications and submitted them to the SBA on the applicant's behalf.
While a lot of people think only big companies received PPP money, it's important to note that all of Capital Bank's clients who secured loans are small businesses. In fact, Capital Bank has been among the top two SBA community lenders by loan volume in the DMV region since 2014, ascending to #1 last year. The Bank's high PPP success rate stems in part from its years of small-business lending experience and having dedicated staff that specializes in SBA loans.
PPP loans are capable of ultimately being forgiven by the federal government, so Capital Bank has already started working to streamline the process and make loan forgiveness easy to obtain. Forgiveness won't start for another seven to eight weeks under federal PPP rules, and the Bank is developing resources to help applicants who received a PPP loans navigate the forgiveness process, leveraging its internal expertise as the DMV region's top SBA-loan originator.
About Capital Bank
Capital Bank, N.A., is the eighth largest bank headquartered in Maryland. The Bank has been providing financial services since 1999 and operates branches in five locations in the greater Washington, D.C., Virginia and Baltimore metro area. The Bank is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Capital Bancorp, Inc., which had assets of approximately $1.4 billion at December 31, 2019; its common stock is traded in the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "CBNK." More information can be found at the Company's website www.CapitalBankMD.com under its investor relations page.
