September 21, 2020

CHAPTER I. FINTECH
FinTech lending originated and has become popular in the United States and around the world in the 12 years since the 2008 financial crisis. FinTech innovators saw a need when larger banks reduced consumer lending and filled the void to provide financing. One of the main reasons behind the success is the digital setup of the marketing, underwriting and funding processes.

The COVID-19 pandemic necessarily expands the list of factors any lender must consider when enforcing the terms and conditions of its loan documents. There is a vast distinction between a corporate borrower who has looted the company and diverted corporate assets for personal gain and a corporate borrower whose business has been explicitly shut down by a gubernatorial pandemic order or forced into bankruptcy by a reduction or elimination or revenue. In short, a tailored approach to each borrower is always essential, but even more so now.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed American life as we know it. As the country continues to deal with the health crisis, the effects of containment measures ripple through the American economy. Unemployment remains high as state economies expand and contract in inverse proportion to the virus’s spread. Regulators are in an arms race with rapidly changing markets, forcing banks to adapt to an ever-changing regulatory landscape.

The challenges we have faced in 2020 have come at us out of nowhere and at a lightning pace. The world continues to face a global pandemic, while regulators and businesses are largely reinventing significant industries. We have dealt with the Paycheck Protection Program, stimulus checks, mountains of loan modification requests, significant pushes to online services, and many other things that were not on our 2020 roadmap. With so many unexpected developments, it’s nice when we have the opportunity to anticipate some of the changes that will require us to take action.

Starting your own business is a challenging but exciting and rewarding achievement. Entrepreneurs face a variety of obstacles when starting a new venture, from obtaining financing, hiring a team, marketing their product or service, keeping up with competitors, and so much more. For some Black entrepreneurs and business owners, these challenges can be even harder to overcome.

After months of growing all-too-familiar with the interior of my home — and the aisles of the local grocery store where toilet paper, hand sanitizer and all-purpose flour are stored, or not — it’s hard to think back on what I had planned to be doing before COVID-19 became a reality and rapidly changed how our nation lived and worked. In that pre-virus world, I anticipated traveling around the country talking with bankers from Mississippi to Wisconsin about the challenges they were facing at their banks — and what the American Bankers Association could do to help.