Lake City Bank marks PPP loan commitments

WARSAW, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Warsaw-based Lakeland Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: LKFN) is touting the amount of loans it has provided through the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program. The parent of Lake City Bank says it has received approval on more than 1,600 loans totaling $530 million.

Chief Executive Officer David Findlay says the bank was able to provide loans to 99% of applicants. The bank says it expects to complete the funding commitments by the end of the week.

“When the PPP program was first announced, we immediately mobilized a team of Lake City Bank staff from our Commercial Banking, Credit Administration, Retail Banking and Loan Operations groups,” Findlay said in a news release. “The team rapidly came together to develop a plan to help our existing clients prepare for and apply to this critical loan program designed to retain and pay their employees through this crisis.”

The program ended last week after all of the allocated $349 billion had been committed. Eric Ottinger, executive vice president of Commercial Banking for Lake City, says it will continue to work with clients to gather any necessary information for an application if the SBA reopens the program with additional funding.