Wolters Kluwer Lending Insights Show Major Impact of TSoftPlus Across US

Wolters Kluwer Compliance Solutions has shared insights showing that its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Supported by TSoftPlus™ solution has helped small businesses retain approximately one million American jobs, representing almost 100 different industries. The figures provide further evidence as to how the Minnesota-based business is continuing to provide industry expertise and technology prowess, leading the way when it comes to ensuring local lenders have access to robust solutions during Covid-19.

“Full-service restaurants lead the list of top business types that have obtained critical payroll funding during the Covid-19 crisis, facilitated through local lenders’ use of TSoftPlus technology,” said a Wolters Kluwer press statement. “Physician offices and lawyer offices, electrical contractors, and commercial and institutional building construction businesses are among the other industries to have received Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act assistance.”

“Our assistance has largely centered on helping local lenders provide Main Street businesses with the funding essential to maintain their teams and operations during these unprecedented times. To date, the PPP loans we’ve processed cover a wide swath of smaller organizations, with funding having helped employers ranging from self-employed soybean farmers and dentist offices to real estate agents and restaurants,” said Steven Meirink, Executive Vice President and General Manager for Compliance Solutions. “Local lenders truly embraced this unprecedented program as some 70 percent of the loans made in any particular state were made by lenders located in that same state.”

Additional analysis based on PPP loans processed with the TSoftPlus solution, indicates that TSoftPlus-processed PPP loans have overwhelmingly been focused on supporting Main Street businesses, with 90 percent of that funding directed to organizations with 20 or fewer employees. The average number of employees assisted by local lenders who used TSoftPlus-originated loans is 12.

Analyst Recognition

Independent analyst firms are also noting the ability of TSoftPlus to provide important access to industry insights during the pandemic. Steven D’Alfonso, Research Director with IDC Financial Insights, notes that beyond lenders’ use of TSoftPlus to facilitate PPP loan and loan forgiveness applications, the process may provide a trove of new insights into customer priorities and preferences, ultimately benefitting small businesses in communities across the country.

“After witnessing a demonstration of TSoftPlus functionality, it would appear that, thanks to the data generated by the PPP loan process, lenders will now be in a better position to truly understand their customers’ needs. Essentially, they will be able to enhance existing banking products or develop new offerings for customer benefit,” said D’Alfonso. “The close collaboration required between borrowers and lenders to meet PPP requirements may have an important side benefit in helping deepen and strengthen customer relationships, helping engender mutual trust for the long term.”

Loan Forgiveness Innovation

Far from resting on its laurels, Wolters Kluwer is continuing to innovate for client benefit. It is, most notably, now preparing to help local lenders and their small business client recipients of PPP funding facilitate online loan forgiveness applications given the need for well documented compliance with both the transaction and to support a lender’s existing compliance management system as the next phase of PPP unfolds. The company’s TSoftPlus™ PPP Forgiveness Module will facilitate and automate the application process for the forgiveness of loans to small businesses that received PPP emergency funding under the U.S. CARES Act and will be available to local lenders and PPP borrowers following finalization of requirements from the Small Business Administration and U.S. Treasury.

“The product’s online functionality will expedite the loan forgiveness application process for remote, electronic application transactions,” according to a Wolters Kluwer statement. Notably, the TSoftPlus PPP Forgiveness Module will feature an online form pre-populated with required SBA documents and existing PPP borrower loan information. “This approach speeds and automates loan documentation and uploads, thereby enhancing overall application accuracy while reducing the occurrence of incomplete applications,” the statement adds. Customers will be immediately able to upload basic PPP data, thereby helping avoid the backlog issues that were widely reported by non-TSoftPlus users during the approval phase of the PPP program.

The seamless user experience and workflow will enable lenders and small businesses to focus efforts on the challenge of determining how much of a PPP loan is eligible for forgiveness. “Initially businesses turned to their accountants for guidance around eligibility and application. With the most recent Internal Revenue Service (IRS) notice around deductibility of expenses funded by a PPP loan and the subsequent loan forgiveness, the questions have gotten more challenging. We continue to provide ongoing guidance, tax expertise, and briefings for accountants to help them navigate the complexities of the program,” said Mark Luscombe, JD, LL.M, CPA, Principal Analyst, Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting.

Customer feedback

Many Wolters Kluwer customers are reporting as much as a 20-fold productivity gain through using the TSoftPlus functionality compared to securing PPP loans direct via the Small Business Administration (SBA) website.

And the impact of Wolters Kluwer’s effort is clearly being felt by local lenders nationally in helping small businesses retain employees and keep their businesses afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic. North Star Community Credit Union, of Maddock, North Dakota, for example, processed nearly 70 PPP loans using TSoftPlus software for the first round of funding.

“The Wolters Kluwer TSoftPlus solution allowed us to continue our very deliberate, strategic and proactive approach to help regional small businesses tap the CARES Act funds.,” said Bob Herrington, CEO for North Star Community Credit Union. “These funds are really making a difference and making a huge impact for our members.”

Community banks, meanwhile, have also noted the impact the Wolters Kluwer solution has had. “Previously we didn’t have much experience in applying for SBA loans – maybe one or two loans a year,” says John Stellner, President of Hometown Community Bank in Cyrus, Minnesota. “But the opportunity to help small businesses get this payroll funding was critical so we used Wolters Kluwer’s TSoftPlus technology to help speed the PPP loan applications.”

Wolters Kluwer Compliance Solutions describes itself as “a market leader and trusted provider of risk management and regulatory compliance solutions and services to U.S. banks and credit unions, insurers and securities firms.” The business, which sits within Wolters Kluwer’s Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) division, helps these financial institutions efficiently manage compliance obligations tied to loan and deposit origination transactions and workflows, manage risk and other regulatory compliance obligations, and gain the insights needed to focus on better serving their customers and growing their business. 

Paycheck Protection Program Supported by TSoftPlus is one of several solutions launched by Wolters Kluwer’s GRC division in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Compliance Solutions’ Expere Servicing and Loss Mitigation technology and warranted documents, in combination with its Consulting Services team, are positioned to assist servicers in helping address the challenges that Paycheck Protection Program post-forbearance workouts will bring. Business Entity Search for CARES Act solution, offered by Wolters Kluwer’s Lien Solutions business, conducts bulk/batch corporate identity searches to verify the business status of potential borrowers.