Federal Reserve expands Main Street programme to smaller companies

Main Street's shortcomings have provided fuel to many critics who charge that the Fed has done more to help Wall Street and large corporations than small businesses during the pandemic

The Federal Reserve will reduce the minimum loan level in a small business lending program and waive some fees to try to boost participation in a program that has so far provided little assistance to struggling companies.

The Fed announced Friday that it will support loans of as low as $100,000 in its Main Street Lending Program, down from an earlier minimum of $250,000. The Main Street program seeks to support small and mid-sized businesses by buying 95% of a loan from participating banks. This is intended to limit the risk to banks and encourage them to lend more.

Yet so far