Bank of America Gets Approval for $24.9 Billion in Small-Business Loans

(Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. received approval for 265,500 small-business loans totaling $24.9 billion in relief funds from the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program.

Since the program reopened on April 27, the bank has sent 213,000 promissory notes to small businesses informing them that their loans were approved by the SBA, Bank of America said Monday in a statement. The latest tally makes the firm the top lender in the second round of funding, according to the company. The bank also released lending data by state, showing it had funded $3.22 billion of loans in California, $1.38 billion in Florida and $1.03 billion in New York.

“We continue to receive and process new applications,” Dean Athanasia, Bank of America's head of consumer and small business, said in the statement. “We are happy to see the SBA has been processing submissions at a faster rate, and hopefully there is sufficient funding for everyone in need.”

Of the loan applications submitted, 98% were for companies with fewer than 100 employees, and 93% were for less than $350,000.

The lender pledged to use net proceeds from any PPP fees it receives to support small businesses, communities and nonprofits. Apart from the PPP program, Bank of America's lending to small-business clients rose 11% in the first quarter to $2.4 billion.

The bank has deferred more than 1.3 million payments for mortgages, credit cards and auto loans as part of its response to the coronavirus pandemic. It's also paused home-foreclosure sales.