Commercial lending

Alternative lenders should be held to the same standards as banks under the Community Reinvestment Act and other laws, M&T CEO René Jones argued in a letter to shareholders.

Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal got an earnings boost with commercial clients ramping up their borrowing as economies emerged further from the pandemic.

On Dec. 31, 2021. Dollars in thousands.

After Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized two self-proclaimed separatist republics in eastern Ukraine, lenders such as SocGen, UniCredit and Raiffeisen look increasingly exposed to the knock-on effects of financial sanctions by Western governments.

Last year, just 30% of small-business owners received the total funding they were seeking, down from 51% just two years earlier, according to a new Federal Reserve survey. The findings suggest that two years into the pandemic, banks are having a difficult time assessing risk.

Almost 350,000 loans made to small businesses in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic haven’t been forgiven, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of Paycheck Protection Program data, and most of them are for less than $25,000. 

The agreement to acquire Vantage Financial in Minnesota comes less than a year after Peoples Bank purchased North Star Leasing in Vermont.

On Sep. 30, 2021. Dollars in thousands.

On Sep. 30, 2021. Dollars in thousands.

Banks and companies that use artificial intelligence to make loans agree with regulators that it should be tested for fairness. But they also say traditional loans could be just as biased.