Commercial lending

The Columbus, Ohio-based regional launched Lift Local Business in October 2020 with a $25 million ceiling. Four years and $133 million later, the program is still going strong.

Analysts say lenders' shares could rally on deregulation, lighter tax burdens and a resurgence of M&A. Declining interest rates and lower loan losses could further bolster bottom lines and attract investor interest.

Lower borrowing costs, reduced exposure to the urban office sector and flattening vacancy rates could collectively save lenders from beleaguered corners of the commercial real estate market.

The Cleveland-based bank now has commercial lending teams in both markets, including a team it recently hired away from Huntington Bancshares.

Treasury yields rose the day after President-elect Donald Trump was picked. The short-term result: It's harder for commercial real estate lenders and borrowers to find common ground.

Agriculture lenders expect more than a third of their borrowers to lose money this year, a development that could result in credit quality deterioration and impacts on banks' bottom lines.

California's banking market, shaken up by big acquisitions and last year's crisis, is drawing financial institutions seeking opportunity.

Senior loan officers polled by the Federal Reserve reported that they further upped their standards for approving credit for customers. But they also signaled that concerns are easing and credit quality is poised for improvement.

The added capital will help the New Jersey-based regional bank reduce its commercial real estate footprint faster and give it wiggle room to grow elsewhere, analysts said.

Leaders at financial institutions said borrower demand should pick back up, if slowly, following Tuesday's vote.

The Dallas-based bank swung to a loss in the third quarter after reclassifying a large bundle of multifamily loans that it plans to offload under a recently announced strategy pivot.

The average size of a Small Business Administration 7(a) loan has fallen to just over $400,000, a level last reached in 2017, according to agency statistics.

The bank, which is rebranding to Flagstar Financial, still expects to meet 2027 earnings goals, despite reduced profit projections for the next couple of years.

The bank cut its dividend, raised capital, hired multiple top executives and vowed to reduce its commercial real estate concentration after a bruising first half of 2024.

The Raleigh, North Carolina-based bank lowered full-year guidance for 2024. Costly deposits are outpacing its yield on loans amid tepid borrowing demand.

As new hires generate low-cost deposits and higher-yielding business loans, the New York company's net interest margin is widening. Dime executives signaled the hiring will resume in 2025.

The Arkansas bank said CRE is no longer its principal growth driver, yet it is still the bank's most prominent business and a big part of its robust lending activity.

The Buffalo, New York-based bank said its commercial real estate portfolio continued to shrink, but this was more than offset by business and consumer lending.

There is a tendency to assume that banks carrying a large commercial real estate loan portfolio need to diversify. But that ignores the fact that many of those institutions have much deeper knowledge of the market than their critics.

The regional bank's earnings were impacted by challenges in its office loan portfolio, though its overall results were a mixed bag, with its nascent private bank showing momentum.