Commercial lending

Credit unions and banks are lending more to merchants based in the Western U.S., reflecting trends reported in the Umpqua Bank 2023 Business Barometer and running against broader economic pessimism.

Private equity firms have been increasingly adding another layer of debt to their complex borrowing arrangements, raising concern among some investors about potential risks to the wider industry and the financial system.

With a week left in its 2023 fiscal year, the Small Business Administration has already approved 12% more 7(a) loans than last year. Larger banks were among the biggest gainers as a result, according to the agency's latest data.

Dawson Her Many Horses, a commercial banker at Wells Fargo, is a pivotal player in an effort among tribal leaders, the federal government and the private sector to improve the availability of economic data about Native American communities to encourage outside investment there.

Denver-based InBank will expand into Georgia and Arizona, part of a wider plan to seize market share and build what one executive called a top-tier SBA lender.

BMO says the shutdown will result in job losses as it shifts its resources to other areas.

Commercial real estate loans are a growing area of concern for banks. But OceanFirst says its exposure to a troubled shared credit tied to a Manhattan office building isn't a sign of broader problems in its portfolio.

A movement is afoot to transfer the job of the Federal Home Loan banks to the Federal Reserve. This would be a disaster for small lenders.

Despite an industrywide rough patch, EverBank still sees promise in the niche business line. The Jacksonville, Florida, company has hired a pair of prominent industry experts to lead a new division tasked with serving investment funds.

The secretive world of private credit is increasingly being funded by public money, and there will be no FDIC there to bail us out when things go bad.

The former U.S. vice president turned climate crusader says Big Oil and the banks backing it still have huge financial incentives to stick with fossil fuels, even though their decision to do so is the leading cause of the climate crisis.

A handful of banks concentrated in the Southeast U.S. are facing elevated charge-offs amid the liquidation of Mountain Express Oil. First Horizon Corp., which led a syndicated loan of more than $200 million to the bankrupt company, expects to take a $70 million hit.

Lenders either write down portions of soured credits or charge them off altogether to remove them from their balance sheets. Banks also set aside reserves to cover potential future bad loans. This allowance creates a buffer for lenders to absorb losses.

When 55 banks were asked to provide metrics on the health of their commercial real estate borrowers, some of them gave data that was six months old. The survey by Moody's Investors Service also found that certain borrowers are already struggling, and others could hit trouble soon, since they'll need to refinance at high interest rates.

The New York-based company announced the launch of a health care lending unit after capitalizing on recent bank failures to add seven deposit-focused banking groups this spring and summer.

The Canadian bank is deemphasizing American office loans amid rising loss provisions. The decision could lead to decelerating growth in the U.S. market.

The bank attributed the surge to impairments in the U.S. office loan portfolio and appeared to signal that higher provisions from commercial real estate may persist.

Uplinq, which helps lenders make credit decisions for small business owners using alternative data, already has large global banks among its clientele.

A new state regulation brings consumer-style rules to the small business realm, extending California regulators' ability to crack down on nonbank lenders that engage in questionable practices. Observers believe that it could be a model for other states.

Tighter credit standards and lower demand for business loans could make it harder for the Fed to achieve the soft landing it's seeking. Still, bankers are cautiously optimistic, noting that some businesses are using their savings to invest at a time when borrowing costs are high.