Massachusetts Banking Commissioner Mary Gallagher is encouraging banks and credit unions to consider collaborating with one another to meet the demand of the Paycheck Protection Program and ensure businesses have equitable access to funds.

In a memo to supervised financial institutions issued Monday, Gallagher said the COVID-19 emergency points to the importance of equitable access to banking services for small businesses in need of assistance.

Gallagher suggested existing U.S. Small Business Administration lenders should reach out to those with little or no SBA experience to pursue collaborations, including referral partnerships.

“These collaborations would enhance the ability of experienced SBA lenders in Massachusetts to leverage their knowledge and expertise and ultimately maximize the assistance available to all impacted small businesses in the commonwealth,” Gallagher said in the memo.

Traditional lenders are not the only ones forming partnerships. Rather than processing the PPP loans, East Boston Savings Bank has partnered with alternative lender Kabbage, an Atlanta-based financial technology firm. The bank’s website includes a link directing small business to Kabbage’s online applications.

Gallagher also said institutions that have already started PPP lending have raised concerns about how the loans would affect legal lending limits. She said the Division of Banks would not enforce legal lending limits or criticize loans made through the PPP that exceed legal lending limits or the institution’s own internal limits.

“Institutions should note that this supervisory exception to the legal lending limit is being granted specifically for, and only to the extent of, the PPP loan amount,” Gallagher said. “While the Division will not treat amounts attributable to the PPP loans that exceed the loan to one borrower limitations as a violation of the legal lending limit, the aggregate non-PPP borrowing relationships with the borrower should remain below the institution’s legal lending limit amount.”