Amid more economic uncertainty than many bankers will ever face in their careers, Massachusetts’ financial institutions have been working hard to remain financial anchors for their communities.
Banks, credit unions and mortgage companies have found ways to stay operational even as the tidal wave of the coronavirus pandemic upended daily life across the state. As Diane McLaughlin details elsewhere in this issue, that required a hefty dose of creativity, optimism and energy from frontline staff and managers alike.
From simply communicating sudden lobby closures to angry customers to sorting out the complexities of conducting normally in-person transactions at a distance while staying compliant with banking regulations, they faced a test few have and, so far, are acing it.
With the need for social distancing upending all kinds of critical steps in the process of mortgage origination and home sales, like appraisals, inspections and document notarization, financial professionals swung into action.
To keep transactions on track, they’ve also worked hard to understand reams of new, emergency laws, regulations and guidance flowing out of Washington D.C. and Boston. In many cases, too, they’ve had to lobby hard to get measures clarified or even changed to correct errors and unintended consequences created in public servants’ haste to respond to a crisis that has rapidly morphed from public health to economic disaster.
Lenders are essential to literally keeping Americans fed, clothed and sheltered in the best of times, and even more so while two-thirds of us are effectively confined to our homes by public health restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19.
Lenders are also critical to ongoing efforts to staunch the economic bleeding taking place across the country as those same public health restrictions have shut down thousands of businesses and thrown over 10 million people out of work in two weeks. Staff in banks, credit unions and fintechs labored mightily last week to understand how and then to set up local pipelines to let $349 billion in rescue loans flow from the federal government to small businesses.
America’s financial professionals haven’t just been reactive. Led by the likes of Berkshire Bank staff, among the first to move last month, they have proactively found ways to use their cash reserves to provide loan modifications and other help to businesses and homeowners hit by the crisis. Many, too, are shoveling millions of dollars out the door in the form of grants to local nonprofits and others suddenly in dire straits.
They don’t face death every day, as our EMTs, nurses and doctors are right now, and they aren’t providing life-saving medical care. But they are among a critical corps who form a thin, pinstriped line between the prosperous, peaceful and healthy future we all hope for at the end of this crisis and years of bleak stagnation.
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