Houston Bank Employees Give “Banker Hours” New Meaning After Processing 297 PPP SBA Loans in 13 Days
Houston, Texas, April 20, 2020 — Texas Citizens Bank, a Houston community bank and SBA lender focused on owner-managed businesses, wants to acknowledge and thank its employees. Texas Citizens Bank team members worked evenings and weekends to help process and fund Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in partnership with the SBA.
In just the first round of SBA Paycheck Protection Program funding—a small window that closed just 13 days after opening to small business owners—Texas Citizens Bank processed 73 million in PPP loans. This push helping 297 Houston small businesses maintain payroll and avoid layoffs.
“I could not be more proud of our team and what they have accomplished in the last two weeks. Their dedication and sacrifice were commendable. What they did truly mattered,” said Texas Citizens Bank Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Duncan Stewart. “This is a historic time. Many years from now, they can look back with great pride in the part they played over these weeks to save companies and the livelihoods of their employees.”
Texas Citizens Bank (TCB) relationship managers, credit analysts, loan operations personnel, administrative assistants, and members of the leadership team worked together the past few weeks to process PPP applications and secure SBA loans for local businesses. Their teamwork and effort made a difference for hundreds of Houston business owners and thousands of their employees.
One of the business owners helped by SBA loans is Bryan Kreitz, President of Business Development at Trinity (TLD), who posted on LinkedIn after receiving his PPP loan: “A huge THANK YOU to Texas Citizens Bank for their amazing work on behalf of Trinity. I will no longer make jokes about “banker’s hours” as they were responding to emails at all hours of the day/night.”
Those late nights and weekends in the office provided significant value. 297 Houston small businesses had their PPP loans approved by the SBA. Texas Citizens Bank’s credit and loan department, are saving Houston area jobs and providing business owners with the boost they need to keep employees on their payroll.
“TCB’s employees have risen to the challenge and have put their own personal lives aside and on hold to serve the needs of others. The commitment, determination and perseverance shown by TCB employees has been incredible to watch and makes me very proud to be a part of all it.” Kelley Lee, Chief Credit Officer at Texas Citizens Bank.
Even before the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) officially opened on April 3, 2020, Texas Citizens Bank was inundated with requests for PPP loans.
“We arrived early, hired additional SBA experts to assist in the processing, and worked evenings and weekends to approve and process PPP loans in support of our local Houston-area business owners and their employees,” said Stewart.
That extra preparation and push to fund PPP loans made the difference for small business owners who would otherwise have missed out on SBA funding.