Business View Magazine | June 2022

125 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 6 PONCE BANK a program where they make micro-loans to consumers. The loans are under $1000 and are essentially an alternative to payday lenders and pawn shops. “People can have a revolving line, so to speak, where they take money and pay it back, take money and pay it back… we’re all over the country with that program using a FinTech application, and we have about 60,000 consumers benefitting from those kind of loans,” Naudon says. They are currently rolling out a similar program with small businesses, using alternative underwriting criteria instead of financial statements to reach the population that needs this kind of lending. Ponce Bank also has a charitable arm – the Ponce de Leon Foundation – that owns stock in the Bank and gives annual grants assisting non-profit organizations to help develop the communities where they serve. With 13 bank branches, a recently acquired mortgage company, and seven loan production offices, Ponce Bank is now integrating the