On June 15, 2020 the Federal Reserve announced the launch of its Main Street Lending Program (Main Street Program). As previously described, this program will provide up to $600 billion in liquidity to eligible lenders that make direct loans to eligible businesses (generally speaking, U.S. companies with 15,000 or fewer employees or 2019 annual revenues of $5 billion or less). Specifically, the Main Street Program is designed to support small and mid-sized businesses that were in good financial condition before the pandemic but now need loans to help maintain operations until they have recovered from the economic downturn.

This announcement does not mean that eligible businesses may begin to apply for Main Street Program loans, however. The first step will be registering eligible lenders that desire to participate. Interested lenders that are eligible may register as of June 15, 2020. Once an eligible lender has been registered, it may begin to process loans for the Main Street Program. Also, there is no prescribed form of application for these loans nor does the Federal Reserve intend to publish a list of eligible lenders that have been registered for participation. Potential borrowers should contact their existing lenders to confirm whether they will participate and to discuss the application process.