Commercial lending

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.

Commercial real estate lenders have to consider not only how they’ll weather the COVID-19 downturn, but whether worker and consumer habits have changed for good.

Some corporations are willing to oblige, turning instead to new, pricier term loans or revolving credit lines rather than tapping existing ones, industry officials say.

Direct lenders around the world are talking with borrowers about easing interest payments, waiving penalties and relaxing covenants as they assess the growing damage to their portfolios caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Draw-downs on C&I credit more than quadrupled in a seven-day period ended March 25. Lenders may try to rein them in if the crisis drags out, but legal precedent isn’t on their side.

While LendingClub, Prosper, Avant and SoFi are giving existing borrowers breaks in the short term, they're considering tightening credit as the coronavirus outbreak threatens to drag the economy into a recession.

With seven in 10 rooms sitting empty amid the coronavirus outbreak, hotel and banking groups are urging policymakers to open up the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility.

The amount of distressed debt in the U.S. has quadrupled in less than a week to nearly $1 trillion, reaching levels not seen since 2008 as the collapse of oil prices and fallout from the coronavirus shutters entire industries across the globe.

Dramatic Fed intervention may steady some markets, but unless something changes — and, judging by the last two weeks, it very well could — the central bank won’t be there to save fallen angels. Which brave investors will step up?

Red flags and warning signs from February should have prompted investors to make “all the wise decisions" at that time, says Ville Talasmaki of Finnish financial group Sampo Oyj.

The Federal Reserve committed Monday to conducting more asset purchases of Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities and announced $300 billion in new financing for credit facilities.

While collapsing market prices do not present immediate worries for CLO managers, the prospect of future downgrades and defaults becomes more problematic.

With small businesses feeling the financial scourge of the coronavirus, bridge loans could be the direction they turn to keep things afloat.