Commercial lending

The West Reading-based bank has opened three offices in California and two in Nevada, continuing its strategy of establishing a presence in high-growth markets around the country, CEO Sam Sidhu said.

Philadelphia-area Citadel Credit Union is starting to see a payoff from a major investment in its business banking operations. 

BayFirst Financial, which has reported problems with SBA loans, expects to reach an agreement with its regulators in connection with credit administration and other issues.

FirstSun Capital Bancorp plans to buy First Foundation in an effort to accelerate its Southern California growth. The $785 million transaction follows FirstSun's failed takeover of Seattle-based HomeStreet.

In an environment of persistent economic unease, banks have a unique opportunity to help small businesses, Sekou Kaalund, U.S. Bank's head of branch and small business banking, said at American Banker's 2025 Small Business Banking conference.

The Long Island-based bank hasn't been profitable in eight quarters, but executives maintain that it's on the right path, citing more loan book diversity, lower expenses and an improved margin.

The company is leveraging its bank charter and strong customer acquisition, with app logins up nearly 50% from borrowers.

The Buffalo-based bank said Thursday that the paring of its CRE loan book, which has nearly halved in volume over the last three years, may be near its inflection point.

A number of banks experienced major increases in 7(a) lending activity during SBA's recently completed fiscal year, as program-wide loan volume topped $37 billion for the first time.

BayFirst Financial in St. Petersburg shuttered a national small-dollar 7(a) loan program in August. Now the $2.4 billion institution, which has been one of the nation's most active SBA lenders over the past decade, is making a clean break from the business.

The Florida community bank, which raised $46 million earlier this summer, is moving ahead with its efforts to expand its national solar and renewable energy line of business.

The American Bankers Association's Economic Advisory Committee expects the economy to grow, albeit at a slower pace than it previously anticipated. The group pointed to stubbornly high inflation and a weakening job market.

A Small Business Administration policy enacted during the second Trump administration blocks not only people who are in the country illegally, but also legal temporary residents and even some U.S. citizens, from accessing government-guaranteed loans.

The deal will give the bank $1.1 billion of loans in a new segment of the equipment finance business.

Fintechs are rolling out business financing tools that are packaged as buy now/pay later and earned wage access in the hopes of capturing momentum from the budding consumer finance industries.

The era of borrowers being able to shift assets into subsidiaries outside the reach of creditors is ending, as AI enables lenders to identify and preemptively block such strategies.

As the holiday shopping season approaches, retailers are grappling with how to optimize their inventory and set prices amid higher tariffs. A new Wells Fargo report sheds light on how businesses are adapting.

The agency says the move, which it made pursuant to a Trump directive, reverses Obama-era policies and requires banks to restore access to customers allegedly cut off for political or ideological reasons.

Data suggests that the beleaguered commercial real estate market isn't going to get worse. And now that banks have had time to build reserves, any losses they do take shouldn't be disastrous, analysts say.

U.S. Bank's merchant acquiring unit has expanded its partnership with embedded finance fintech Liberis to offer its small business clients working capital loans.The two companies previously offered loans in the U.K., Ireland and Poland.