ABA today welcomed the bipartisan Rural Equal Aid Act, which would provide six months of payment relief for borrowers using the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development loan programs.
By Ed Elfmann The agricultural banking community lost an industry icon with the passing of…
As a record expansion ground to a halt, a whole new generation of bankers has had no experience with a down cycle. What can bankers nationwide learn from the challenged agricultural economy of the past decade about the role of emotional intelligence in banking?
The FCS’s issuance of short-term securities, called discount notes, nearly doubled during the first quarter, rising by $17 billion between the end of 2019 and March 31, 2020. That increase accounted for 80 percent of the FCS’s first quarter rise in total system-wide debt outstanding.
Recent legislation introduced in both houses of Congress―the Enhancing Credit Opportunities in Rural America Act―would…
Prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus in the U.S., the nation’s farm banks were well-capitalized, with many raising equity capital—a more conservative type of capital, according to ABA’s annual Farm Bank Performance Report released today.
Memorial Day signified the beginning of summer in many parts of the country, and the slow but steady reopening of business activity in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Iowa Superintendent of Banking Jeff Plagge offers ideas for long-term solutions to get struggling businesses back on their feet after the lockdown.
With many rural businesses and agricultural producers facing financial challenges as a result of COVID-19, the Department of Agriculture today announced that it will make available up to $1 billion in loan guarantees for these entities through Farm Service Agency loan programs and through the USDA Business and Industry CARES Act Program, a new program that provides working capital loans to help rural businesses prevent, prepare for or respond to the effects of the pandemic.
As Congress contemplates additional coronavirus relief legislation, the American Bankers Association and the 51 state bankers associations today wrote to congressional leaders urging them to include the Enhancing Credit Opportunities in Rural America Act of 2019 in the so-called “Phase IV” legislative package
Prior to COVID-19, rural and urban America’s economic paths were diverging. Where they will go next remains to be seen.