- Key takeaway: U.S. Bank is relying on an in-house training program and enhanced marketing to win more business from manufacturers.
- Forward look: The company anticipates rolling out new specialty banking verticals in 2027 and 2028.
- Expert quote: "We're making sure every one of our bankers who is going to be in front of a manufacturer really understands how to approach them, to talk about their businesses and the challenges they might have." — Dee O'Dell, U.S. Bank's head of business banking sales
U.S. Bank has a plan that it says will lead to more manufacturing clients, result in those companies getting larger working-capital lines and spark an uptick in Small Business Administration lending.
The superregional bank has always served manufacturers, but its new plan reflects a more holistic approach to the sector, according to Dee O'Dell, its head of business banking sales.
At its heart, the U.S. Bank initiative is built around specialized training provided to more than 600 business bankers on O'Dell's team. The veteran executive, who has been in his current role since 2022, said he wants to ensure his bankers are fully briefed on the issues manufacturers navigate. That list of topics spans from supply chains to techniques for improving manufacturing production.
"We're making sure every one of our bankers who is going to be in front of a manufacturer really understands how to approach them, to talk about their businesses and the challenges they might have," O'Dell said.
As part of its blueprint, U.S. Bank is highlighting its Manufacturing Vendor Services unit, which provides financing solutions to the customers of heavy equipment makers. It's also offering foreign-exchange consulting, fraud-prevention and cybersecurity tools, and SBA lending options.
"This is a much more concerted effort to show up in a very coordinated way," O'Dell told American Banker. "We've been working on this for over a year."
U.S. Bank's expanded efforts come as the Trump administration takes steps aimed at spurring more domestic manufacturing. Among the tools the administration has deployed are several new SBA schemes intended to deliver more capital to manufacturers, including fee waivers, a long-term line of credit and an enhanced loan guarantee.
Since the SBA began highlighting the manufacturing sector last year, the agency has approved more than 8,600 manufacturing loans for $6.7 billion, an SBA spokesperson told American Banker in an email. The manufacturing loan-volume total was up about 10% from fiscal years 2023 and 2024, according to data on the SBA's website.
The SBA's efforts have prompted a number of other institutions — including Buffalo, New York-based M&T Bank; Bell Bank in Fargo, North Dakota; Customers Bancorp in West Reading, Pennsylvania; and Phoenix-based Western Alliance Bancorp — to highlight manufacturing.
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In light of the increased emphasis on U.S. manufacturing, O'Dell said it seemed like the right time to lean into the sector.
U.S. Bank, the banking subsidiary of Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp, is working to communicate its manufacturing effort more broadly. It's attending industry trade shows and plans to host manufacturing-centered client events around the country, stratagems it had not used in the past.
"We're going to show up consistently around the country in places manufacturers will want to convene," O'Dell said.
At a higher level, U.S. Bank's manufacturing program represents the second installment of a broader strategy aimed at driving more business from companies with annual revenues of $2.5 million to $50 million. It follows on the heels of a
