Commercial Banking News, Strategy & Risk Analysis
American Banker's commercial banking coverage explores how banks serve middle-market and corporate clients, focusing on issues such as interest-rate volatility, regulatory pressure, and intensifying competition for deposits and credit relationships. This section focuses on balance-sheet strategy, commercial lending, treasury and cash management, risk governance, and the technologies reshaping relationship banking.
Learn how institutions are recalibrating growth expectations, managing credit exposure, and using payments and treasury capabilities to deepen client relationships while preserving profitability.
Commercial banking is under structural pressure from higher funding costs, uneven loan demand, and increased supervisory scrutiny. Banks are being forced to prioritize relationship depth, disciplined credit selection, and non-interest income generation rather than balance-sheet expansion alone.
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The Dallas bank reported an increase in energy loans for the first time in nearly three years, but executives don’t expect fossil-fuel lending to rebound to its previous highs.
April 20 -
The bank has pivoted its commercial real estate operation as the rise of work-from-home arrangements has impacted market values. The only type of office space it's financing is Class-A buildings in major cities.
April 19 -
Though noninterest income at Truist Financial fell in the first quarter, executives revised upward their revenue estimate for the year in anticipation that the Fed’s monetary-tightening plans will fatten margins. Citizens Financial and Fifth Third echoed that thinking.
April 19 -
The New York custody banking giant took an eight-cent blow to its first-quarter earnings per share as a result of its retreat from the Russian market. Still, the company’s current estimate of the move’s ongoing impact is slightly smaller than its previous guidance.
April 18 -
Bank of America joined Wall Street rivals in capitalizing on market volatility in the first quarter while also benefiting from a 10% year-over-year increase in loans.
April 18 -
One year after CEO Jane Fraser launched a business revamp, Citigroup reported lower revenue, higher expenses and a big reserve for loan losses in Russia. Yet the company’s long-term plan to streamline operations and invest in high-performing businesses — all with an aim to strengthen shareholder returns — still appears on track.
April 14 -
The Pittsburgh bank had warned that business activity in its capital markets unit was slowing because of economic uncertainty stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But its fee income declined by more than the company anticipated in the first quarter, and looming rate hikes from the Fed will no doubt cut into mortgage income further.
April 14









