Commercial lending

The Distressed Credit Opportunities Fund III money pool, dubbed Disco III, will target leveraged loans, high-yield bonds and collateralized loan obligations.

The program, created in response to the 2008 financial crisis, generated $19 billion in small-business loans. It could be used as a viable path out of the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead of just seeking out distressed situations, the Dislocation Opportunities Fund has a wide mandate to buy corporate and asset-backed debt.

The fund will be similar to the first iteration, which gathered $2.4 billion last year and focused on lending to family- and entrepreneur-owned businesses.

The Small Business Administration stopped approving loans when the Paycheck Protection Program hit its cap.

Legislation announced Wednesday would allow credit unions to make coronavirus relief loans to businesses without fear of bumping up against the member business lending cap.

Analysts and ratings companies are sounding alarms as a number of BDCs rush to shore up finances, or throw lifelines to their heavily indebted borrowers.

By helping borrowers now, banks hope customers can quickly catch up on payments once the coronavirus pandemic ends. If they can’t, interest income will remain low and charge-offs could pile up if the crisis drags on.

The Fed's actions are designed to ensure the flow of credit to midsize businesses and state and local governments hit hard by the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Small Business Administration said lenders approved $71 billion in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program in less than five days.

The Small Business Administration’s loan processing platform went down Monday for as long as four hours, temporarily halting the ability of lenders to process loans for small business owners seeking relief from the impact of the coronavirus.

Fitch expects a majority of European CLO junior notes to be placed on a potential downgrade watch due to enhanced evaluation for coronavirus-related stresses.

Lenders must balance the financial risk of extending credit without explicit backing from the Small Business Administration against the reputational risk of delaying aid for needy borrowers.

The central bank is creating a facility to provide financing to banks participating in the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program.

There’s no reason to punish companies for failing to see a history-changing, once-in-a-century pandemic, or anticipate the shutdowns that would result.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said that $349 billion will likely not be enough meet loan demand from small businesses seeking a lifeline to help them weather the economic downturn brought on by the coronavirus outbreak.

For years, regulators have tried to make the financial system safer by blocking banks from taking on the extreme leverage that almost toppled the industry in 2008. Turns out, the risks just moved.

Speculative-grade borrowers are different because they made a conscious choice to take on more debt in the hopes of generating bigger returns for equity holders. They did this even though they knew it would make them more vulnerable in an economic downturn.

Weak demand for oil and gas, brought on by the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak, has raised concerns of energy firms missing loan payments or even going bankrupt. Here’s how banks and regulators are trying to get ahead of potential problems.

The 2008 package proved some banks were too big to fail. But the rushed $2.2 billion stimulus shows now any company can be bailed out.