Commercial lending

Former employees of the Austin-based City National Bank still recall the 1981 flood that deluged the city and Whole Foods, and they take pride in the lender's role in rescuing what was then a fledgling health food store.

With the Federal Reserve holding interest rates at elevated levels through the first half of the year, analysts are sharpening their collective focus on possible fallout from high deposit and borrowing costs.

Executives from Citi and TDECU teased their plans for digital lending at American Banker's Digital Banking conference this week.

Large and regional banks again proved their resiliency in the Fed's annual exams. But analysts noted that a few lenders faced some negative surprises — a development that may scuttle investor hopes for share buybacks by those banks.

Funding Circle US fought to win a coveted license to make SBA 7(a) loans only to see its London-based parent company agree to a sale before it could make its first government-guaranteed loan

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau extended the deadline for lenders with the highest volume of small-business loans to July 18, 2025, and will not assess penalties for reporting errors for a year.

This year Texas banks dominated American Banker's annual list of the top-performing larger community banks. See which institution came in at No. 1 for this asset class.

The best-performing larger Main Street Banks, those in the $2 billion to $10 billion asset class, were asset sensitive, a position that worked to their advantage as rates continued to climb in 2023.

PeoplesBank and Cornerstone Bank entered into an agreement to combine their holding companies in a deal slated to close early in 2025. The banks would continue to operate separately.

The collateral that supports commercial and industrial loans is generally weaker than in commercial real estate, where banks can take over a devalued office building. Analysts say the loans merit a closer look as commercial bankruptcies rise.