Square Capital Chief To Step Down

Jacqueline Reses, head of Square‘s Square Capital unit, is stepping down as of Oct. 30, according to a report from The Motley Fool.

Square didn’t provide a reason for the departure in a brief statement, only saying that Reses “has worked at Square for five years and provided significant contributions to the company.”

Square Capital is the company’s small business financing arm, providing loans from $300 up to $10,000, charging a single fee for loans. The loans have flexible repayment options, and the borrower can choose how to do that, The Motley Fool writes. The unit provides complementary services to Square’s usual offering of its point-of-sale payment terminals.

Reses has a wide trove of experience in the field, having also served as chairman of the economic development council at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; prior to that, she worked at Goldman Sachs as a vice president.

Square hasn’t announced a replacement for Reses, according to The Motley Fool, and Reses hasn’t said what her next plans are as of Sunday (Oct. 4).

In the most recently reported quarter, Square stopped its small business financing in lieu of providing Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. Square provided 80,000 of those types of loans to aid businesses struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic, the total amount being around $873 million.

The average loan, according to the company, was for $11,000. Ninety-seven percent of the loans were under $50,000, which is the lowest tier for the Small Business Administration (SBA).

The company said it received 140,000 applications for over $2 billion for PPP loans. Sixty percent of those had never received a loan from Square, and a majority were individual borrowers. The distribution was fairly even across urban, suburban and rural recipients.

Square’s usership was up 60 percent from the previous year as of Q4 2019, PYMNTS writes. Revenues had surged to $1.3 billion and adjusted earnings per share sat at $0.23, which was better than analysts had expected.