Regions Bank, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, has agreed to pay the United States $4,919,631 to resolve allegations that it improperly approved forgiveness of a Paycheck Protection Program loan that did not qualify for forgiveness, pocketing government-backed payments it was not entitled to receive [1].
The settlement implicates the False Claims Act, the federal statute that imposes liability on parties who submit false or fraudulent claims for government payment. Under the PPP, established by the CARES Act in 2020, participating lenders like Regions Bank were authorized to approve and submit forgiveness applications on behalf of borrowers. The government's theory is that Regions reviewed and certified a forgiveness application for a customer whose loan fell outside the program's eligibility requirements, then collected reimbursement from the Small Business Administration when the underlying claim was defective [1]. The False Claims Act permits the government to recover treble damages plus per-claim penalties, though settlements typically resolve liability at a negotiated figure below the statutory maximum.
The Department of Justice announced the resolution on May 22, 2026 [1]. The settlement does not constitute an admission of liability by Regions Bank, a standard feature of False Claims Act civil resolutions. No criminal charges were filed in connection with this matter. The agreement closes the government's civil enforcement action against the bank on this claim.
The resolution fits a sustained DOJ enforcement pattern targeting financial institutions that participated in PPP administration. Regulators and prosecutors have pursued both borrowers and lenders across several enforcement tranches since 2021, arguing that banks bear independent responsibility for the integrity of forgiveness determinations they submit to the SBA. Settlements with lenders have ranged widely in size depending on loan volume, the number of defective applications, and the degree of internal oversight failures alleged. The Regions matter, involving a single customer's loan, sits at the smaller end of that spectrum but signals that the government continues to hold lenders accountable for individual errors, not only systemic ones [1].
No further enforcement action against Regions Bank on PPP-related conduct has been announced. The bank has not publicly commented on the settlement. Civil False Claims Act resolutions of this type are typically final, with no appellate posture to monitor absent collateral litigation.