Blog

I would like to take a moment to recognize the work of the Citizens Bank & Trust family, and the absolutely outstanding effort made with the Paycheck Protection Program.   While not all institutions chose to participate, we felt it was important to each of the small businesses in the communities we serve to do our best to provide all the assistance we could.   Beginning with a twelve-hour day on the weekend of April 5th, and until the time the PPP funds were exhausted the morning of the 15th, a total of 299 applications were accepted, reviewed separately by at least two employees, and input into the SBA system over the time funds were available.    We closed this effort with over $31million in approved loans we will fund to customers in our markets.    This does not just happen, and I am truly thankful for the engaged and passionate staff of Citizens Bank & Trust bankers.   

We also acknowledge that the volume of requests far exceeded our ability to work through each of them all the way to approval, and this bothers us.    As more and more Banks came on line across the Country, the pressure on the allocation of PPP funds only became greater, but our effort was constant and steady throughout.   So many of our team worked not only full days, but well into the evenings -- as late as 2 a.m. on the final night – to ensure we could process and complete as many applications as possible.   We picked up again this morning until the last of the allocated $350Billion was gone.    Please know that as an industry we continue to push our lawmakers for a continuation of this funding.   Should it be made available as we think it should, we will proudly commence PPP operations once again.    It is our goal to be engaged in each of our communities, and to serve in the best way we can.    If you are a customer, please accept our thanks for the trust you place in our Bank, and know that we are truly hopeful to have the opportunity to finish what we have started.  We're proud to be a small bank making a big difference in our communities.