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Report
How Did the MSLP Borrowers Fare Before and During COVID-19?
This policy brief uses Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) data to assess whether the Main Street Lending Program (MSLP) borrowers were in worse financial health than their peers before COVID-19 hit the economy hard in March 2020 or suffered worse deterioration afterward. The findings can help us better understand why these firms sought to obtain MSLP loans. We find that MSLP borrowers tend to be larger than their peer firms (that is, firms in the same industry and state). Within the same size group, MSLP borrowers are on average younger than their peers. Borrowers tended to have a slightly higher ...
Report
Uptake of the Main Street Lending Program
The Main Street Lending Program (Main Street) was one of several new credit facilities launched by the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Federal Reserve published draft terms for Main Street on April 9, 2020, and the program started purchasing loan participations on July 6, 2020, with the goal of supporting lending to a wide range of small and medium-sized businesses that were in sound financial condition before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the program’s draft terms were first circulated, pandemic-related ...
Speech
The Main Street Lending Program and Other Federal Reserve Actions
Today I’ll focus on two of the Federal Reserve’s lending programs being run by the Boston Fed: the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility and the Main Street Lending Program.
Journal Article
The Main Street Lending Program
The Main Street Lending Program was created to support credit to small and medium-sized businesses and nonprofit organizations that were harmed by the pandemic, particularly those that were unsupported by other pandemic-response programs. It was the most direct involvement in the business loan market by the Federal Reserve since the 1930s and 1940s. Main Street operated by buying 95 percent participations in standardized loans from lenders (mostly banks) and sharing the credit risk with them. It would end up supporting loans to more than 2,400 borrowers and co-borrowers across the United ...
Speech
Implementing the Fed’s Facilities: Moving at Maximum Speed with Maximum Care
Remarks before the Money Marketeers of New York University (delivered via audio webinar).
Working Paper
The Main Street Lending Program: Who Borrowed and How Have They Benefited?
The Main Street Lending Program (MSLP) was established by the Federal Reserve to supply credit to small and, especially, midsize businesses so they could weather COVID-19–induced disruptions. This study uses Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) data on the financial condition and overall viability of firms to examine the characteristics of MSLP borrowers and their performance after receiving a loan relative to the performance of their peers. Estimates show that, even when differences in firms' industries and geographic regions are taken into account, a firm was more likely to borrow from the MSLP if it ...
Speech
The Main Street Lending Program and Other Federal Reserve Actions
The economy has suffered a truly severe shock from the COVID-19 public health crisis. The unemployment rate has risen very significantly in response to necessary shutdowns intending to limit the health impact of the pandemic. However, even when businesses are free to open, many may face diminished demand until customers once again feel secure leaving their homes, which underlines that public health is at the root of this crisis and its solutions.
Speech
The Economy’s Outlook, Challenges, and Way Forward
Recent economic data have been encouraging, but President Rosengren believes the most difficult part of the recovery is still ahead of us. A full recovery probably requires the availability of vaccines and more effective treatments for the virus because until then, many businesses and households are unlikely to return to more normal spending habits. While he anticipates a slowly improving economy, economic activity still faces serious headwinds. Potential financial impediments and challenges in the labor market make the recovery process more gradual than any of us would prefer. Improvement in ...
Speech
Prepared Testimony for the Congressional Oversight Commission
President Rosengren spoke about the operationalization of the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending Program, a facility authorized by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System under section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, with approval of the Secretary of the Treasury. The Department of the Treasury committed to make an equity investment of $75 billion in the Program – and the funds available for investment by the Treasury were appropriated to the Exchange Stabilization Fund under section 4027 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”). ...
Speech
The COVID-19 Pandemic, the Economic Outlook, and the Main Street Lending Program
Unfortunately, the economic outlook is being driven by the course of the pandemic, and much depends on how successfully it can be contained, either through public health or medical innovations. The forecast for the U.S. economy this fall is quite uncertain, but President Rosengren's view is that the recent slowdown in economic activity that we have seen in high frequency data is likely to continue. Currently, we have an unemployment rate above 10 percent, and because of the continued community spread of the virus, he is concerned that the pandemic will limit the ability of the economy to ...