Commercial lending

Dream Chasers upped its bid for Carver, one of the nation's largest and highest-profile Black banks, by a quarter, to $3.25 per share, dismissing the growth strategy interim CEO Craig MacKay outlined in a recent shareholder letter.

Bankers are hopeful that several factors could strengthen profits next year, including higher loan demand and more stable funding costs as the Fed holds the line on — or even lowers — interest rates.

A medical services company is suing the nation's largest bank, alleging that it refused transactions, closed accounts and erroneously told customers that the company was subject to sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department. JPMorgan declined to comment on the suit.

Credit problems in business loans have risen in recent months, as companies that are in a weak financial position have started closing up shop. The difficulty in gauging which banks will face the most trouble is prompting many investors to stay away from the sector.

2023 proved to be a rocky year for large regional banks. But under CEO Bill Demchak's guidance, the Pittsburgh-based company has navigated the turmoil better than many of its peers.

Gov. Jim Justice alleges that Carter Bancorp engineered a technical default on a multi-million lending relationship and has blocked his company's efforts to refinance with other lenders. The lawsuit extends a dispute that started after the death of the bank's founder in 2017.

A key gauge of activity that tracks startups most likely to create jobs declined in October, potentially signaling the start of a slowdown after the rapid increase in interest rates. It presents a red flag for community banks and credit unions that are major lenders to small businesses.

Since the end of the Small Business Administration's 2022 fiscal year, the average loan size in its flagship program has dropped more than six figures. The addition of three new nondepository lenders could further drive down this figure.

Small Business Administration lending is an arena where community banks and nonbanks compete favorably with some of the largest U.S. financial institutions. Here are the biggest SBA 7(a) lenders based on the value of approved loans.

Small business clients are important to financial institutions and expected to drive growth. But to achieve that, banks must teach them to be stronger consumers.

But high costs and any downturn in the economy could weigh on lenders and their commercial borrowers in coming months, economists caution.

Banks across the spectrum of size and location serve small businesses — but they all do it differently. At American Banker's Small Biz Banking 2023 conference in Nashville from November 13-15, banks of all sizes will come together to share ideas, learn from experts and hear from bankers in the field who are doing it best. 

Los Angeles-based Lendistry — in less than two years — became the largest Black-run 7(a) lender. Its CEO credits a concerted effort by the Small Business Administration to reach out to minority lenders and businesses, whose participation in the lending program is growing.

The proposal fails to account for the needs of small and medium-size businesses, which depend on banking data connectivity to keep their operations running.

Months prior to its failure, Citizens Bank in Sac City had entered into a consent order with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Iowa Division of Banking due to problems in its portfolio of commercial trucking loans.

The small businesses that drive the U.S. economy and local economies throughout our nation are being "hung out to dry" by regulators' push for increased capital requirements, according to the head of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.

This week the Small Business Administration followed through with a controversial policy change by granting access to its flagship 7(a) program to three additional nonbank lenders. These new participants vowed to ramp up their small-business lending efforts.

Consumer appetites for new loans have slowed in the face of record interest rates, but Sunlight Federal Credit Union's partnership with Avana CUSO helps identify commercial real estate opportunities in markets both local and national.

The JPMorgan Chase chief says Texas risks undermining its business-friendly reputation with laws designed to punish Wall Street banks for policies that limit work with the gun and fossil-fuel industries.