Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 8

99 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 8 FARMERS & MERCHANTS BANK for our commercial lending team, in particular,” says Morton. “Once the program started hitting the news, we began hearing from our business customers immediately. So we scrambled to learn the SBA system to get up to speed as quickly as we could. It rolled out very fast and we ended up helping 243 customers by providing $27 million in PPP loans in the first round alone.” The average loan size provided by the bank in PPP round 2 was $20,000 or less. While the average commercial loan amount size during the pandemic was much more than $20,000. These funds proved essential for the survival of many smaller firms. The sheer volume of loans was something that FM Bank had not previously experienced but their management team is proud of the way it was able to support new and existing customers, managing the liquidity and funding of the PPP program at such short notice. “Not long after we had facilitated the release of PPP loans, we had to prepare ourselves to manage PPP forgiveness,” Morton explains. “That started in the middle of August and then within 90 days or so, the SBA began the active approval process. So our customers were very happy with how quickly this was processed. And, of course, at the same time, we were also managing our usual, core business – whether it involved commercial real estate business, installment loans, or business lines of credit.” In terms of the types of company supported by FM Bank, a wide spectrum of industries is covered, from real estate firms to manufacturing and medical services. Ironically, despite its name, Farmers & Merchants Bank didn’t actually facilitate a large number of ‘ag loans’ in the past, but about five or six years ago they hired their first ag lender and now have a decent amount of ag loans in their portfolio (5-6 percent) and that number is growing. As well as supporting local businesses, FM