JPMorgan $50 Million in Aid to Small Businesses & Non-Profits Impacted by Coronavirus

Janis Bowdler, president of JPMorgan Chase Foundation joins Yahoo Finance’s Lulu Chiang to discuss JPM’s $50 million aid to help small businesses and non-profit organizations affected by COVID-19. Bowdler also gives an update on Chairman & CEO Jamie Dimon’s health and reacts to the latest news of JPM giving “front-line” employees up to $1000 bonus pay

Video Transcript

LULU CHIANG: JPMorgan Chase recently made $50 million commitment to help small businesses and nonprofits to address some of the challenges from COVID-19 global pandemic. Here to talk about the aid is Janis Bowdler, President of JPMorgan Chase Foundation. Janis, your firm allocated 8 million to help small businesses. Please explain how it'll work.

JANIS BOWDLER: Sure. So we work with a number of partners in cities across the country and in cities around the globe that provide flexible capital to small businesses. We are getting $8 million into their hands as quickly as possible so that they can make no or low-interest loans to small businesses. We also recognize in a dynamic environment there are a lot of new regulations, like how do you implement paid sick leave if you haven't had to do that before? So we'll make sure that there are some technical advisors available to support small businesses trying to adapt to a new environment.

LULU CHIANG: Do you think our government is doing enough to help small businesses?

JANIS BOWDLER: We're certainly looking forward to what comes in the next stimulus package. There's a huge role for the SBA to play, and we stand ready to partner with them, as we think together about how to get capital into the hands that small-- of small businesses that desperately need it. We know from our own research that small businesses have on average just 14 days of liquidity, so moving as quickly as possible is paramount.

LULU CHIANG: And what-- what role should big businesses, a big bank like JPMorgan, play in this situation?

JANIS BOWDLER: So we're prepared for this sort of thing. I would encourage anybody that is a customer or client of the firm that's experiencing hardship to please give us a call and see what we can do. We also moved quickly to support our communities, our clients, our employees. So immediately of the $50 million that we announce, 15 million going directly to nonprofits working on the ground trying to get support to those closest to the problem.

LULU CHIANG: And social distancing will not only have an impact on small businesses, it really has an impact, direct impact, on the rest of the economy and those who live paycheck to paycheck. The foundation does a lot of work with some of these low-income households.

JANIS BOWDLER: We do. And in fact, our strategy for many years has really been about trying to support economic resiliency, economic inclusion, and we're heartbroken about the impact of COVID-19 on communities that we've worked really hard in a period of unprecedented economic growth to make sure that they're well positioned to share in that prosperity. And now we know that those same families are going to be impacted the hardest, so we're moving quickly to try to make sure they have the resources that they need.

LULU CHIANG: Are you seeing an impact already?

JANIS BOWDLER: Certainly. We have an ear to the ground with our nonprofit partners. We know that people are experiencing disruption in their work lives. They-- they have mounting expenses related to this. Small businesses, as I mentioned, really don't have a lot of extra cash on hand, so we know a lot of individuals, businesses, neighborhoods are already starting to feel that pinch.

LULU CHIANG: And unemployment, you know, jobless claims was already higher yesterday. Do you expect that to continue to go up next week? And that will, of course, impact the lower income households the most.

JANIS BOWDLER: Sure. I-- there are other economists out there that can opine on what that rate is likely to be. I know for us, we just stand ready to be as helpful as possible, even thinking ahead to how we might have to help individuals train for their next job. How can we help get those resources out into the community as soon as possible?

LULU CHIANG: I mean, not only on the foundation side, but JPMorgan is really putting money where its mouth is, right? Earlier today, the firm giving tellers on the front line, employees dealing with coronavirus, a $1,000 bonus because these bank tellers have to show up to work.

JANIS BOWDLER: They have to. I mean, banking really is critical infrastructure. I'm so proud of our colleagues who just moved into rapid response as soon as possible. We really are there for our customers, clients, and our communities. And our employees, of course, we want to make sure they're taken care of. This is the firm that we are and the-- the kind of thing we want to be prepared to do in-- in a crisis situation like we're experiencing now.

LULU CHIANG: A week ago, Jamie Dimon was discharged from the hospital, where he was recovering from emergency heart surgery. Reuters reporting that he may be back next month, but that he's been pretty involved in the big decisions in the past few weeks, as coronavirus really rocked the markets. How's Jamie doing?

JANIS BOWDLER: He's doing great. I mean, Jamie is a formidable leader. We all are excited about his speedy recovery and happy to have him at the helm of the firm.

LULU CHIANG: We wish Jamie a speedy recovery. Janis Bowdler, President of JPMorgan Chase Foundation, thank you so much for joining Yahoo Finance.

JANIS BOWDLER: Thank you for having me.