Bank of America received 10,000 applications within first hour of small business loan program

(Reuters) – Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said the bank has already received roughly 10,000 applications for federally backed small business loans within the first hour of starting to accept them.

The second largest U.S. bank by assets became the first major bank to accept applications for the massive small business loan program approved by Congress last week.

Banks have been scrambling to prepare for overwhelming demand for the loans while awaiting guidance from the government. JPMorgan Chase & Co emailed many small business customers on Thursday to tell them it may not be ready to accept applications when the program launches on Friday.

(Reporting by Imani Moise, Editing by Franklin Paul)