Alert – SBA extends PPP until August 8 and issues new interim final rule related to the loan forgiveness requirements of the PPP

July 8, 2020

To our clients and friends:
On July 4, 2020, the Paycheck Protection Program Extension Act was signed into law, which extended from June 30, 2020 to August 8, 2020 the deadline to apply for a loan under the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (“SBA”) Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”). The SBA has an estimated $130 billion remaining in the PPP.

The SBA also recently issued an interim final rule (the “Interim Final Rule”), which amends the SBA’s previously issued interim final rules on PPP loan forgiveness to incorporate certain provisions of the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 signed into law on June 5, 2020.

Our Alert summarizes the changes to the loan forgiveness requirements of the PPP implemented by the Interim Final Rule and is available here.

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In Memoriam – Eric Luse

June 29, 2020

It is with a collective heavy heart that we inform you of the passing of our partner and the founder of our firm, Eric Luse, after a ten-year battle with cancer. Over the course of his 40 plus years of legal practice, Eric was a tireless advocate for the community banking industry and a trusted advisor to management teams and boards of directors of community banks across the country. He will forever be associated in the mutual banking industry as the father and patron saint of the mutual holding company structure, which has enabled so many community banks to thrive and prosper. His attitude toward work and life in the face of his own personal health adversity could serve as a role model for all - he never dwelled on his own misfortune and continued to engage, lead and advise as always and with his usual tenacity and passion.
His dedication to the firm and the practice of law was second only to his dedication to his family. Eric is survived by his wife of 43 years, Susan, three children and three grandchildren. He loved his family deeply.
Eric’s greatest legacy will be the firm that he played such a critical role in shaping and developing during the past 27 years. Due to Eric’s vision and leadership, Luse Gorman is the premier community banking law firm in the country today, representing community banks and holding companies from Maine to Florida, east coast to west coast, Alaska and Hawaii and the Mid-West in between. We work with more than 350 financial institutions and their holding companies, public and private, mutual and stock, and no firm knows better than we do on a real-time basis the issues facing community banks. Eric’s guiding philosophy for our firm was for us to be not just a legal advisor to, but to become a strategic and valued partner with, our clients. We never will lose sight of the high standards Eric set for the firm – provide quality and timely service; understand the unique needs of each client; provide practical and understandable advice; and always place the interests of the client first. These standards have enabled our success and will continue to guide our performance in years to come.
We thank Eric for his vision and service and we will forever miss him.

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OCC Final Rule on Permissible Interest on Transferred Loans

June 9, 2020

To our clients and friends:

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) recently issued a final rule clarifying that when a national bank or federal savings association transfers a loan, the interest rate permissible before the transfer continues to be permissible after transfer. The final rule applies to national banks and federal savings associations and is effective on August 3, 2020. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation previously issued a substantively similar proposed rule as to state banks and is likely to follow the OCC in issuing the rule in final.

Our Alert is available here.

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Luse Gorman Served as Legal Counsel to West End Bank, S.B. in its Completed Acquisition by Three Rivers Federal Credit Union

June 2, 2020

On May 31, 2020, West End Bank, S.B., Richmond, Indiana, and its parent company, West End Indiana Bancshares, Inc., completed a purchase and assumption transaction with Three Rivers Federal Credit Union ("3Rivers"), Fort Wayne, Indiana, in which 3Rivers has acquired the assets and assumed the liabilities of West End Bank in an all-cash transaction. It is estimated that each West End Indiana Bancshares stockholder will receive between $35.00 and $37.00 per share of West End Indiana Bancshares common stock owned by such stockholder following the merger of West End Bank into West End Indiana Bancshares and the dissolution of West End Indiana Bancshares.

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