ABA Statement on House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Report

“The House Select Subcommittee’s report makes clear that federal agencies must hold fintech and other nondepository institutions to the same standards as banks when they are offering the same services. The report is particularly timely given that the Small Business Administration proposed two rules this fall that would allow an uncapped number of non-federally regulated nondepository institutions into the agency’s 7(a) program and would loosen lending standards. As the Subcommittee states, ‘Congress and the SBA should consider carefully whether unregulated businesses such as fintechs, many of which are not subject to the same regulations as financial institutions, should be permitted to play a leading role in future federal lending programs.’ We urge the SBA to take the Subcommittee’s warning into account before the agency finalizes its proposed rules.”