Commercial lending

Mortgages and wealth management generated fees that gave top midtiers an edge, as the pandemic halted most lending outside of the Paycheck Protection Program.

First Women's Bank received approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. this week and is set to open its doors in the fall. It is the first new bank to be chartered in Illinois since 2010.

Native American reservations have some of the country's highest concentrations of unbanked households. But tribes are finding ways to get their members access to capital — with or without banks.

Bankers insist borrowing will pick up on the back of a post-pandemic economic recovery. But so far there are few signs of a rebound, and analysts are skeptical one is imminent.

Though the Paycheck Protection Program is winding down, the Small Business Administration has prolonged several other pandemic relief programs. Community banks can help local businesses sort through their options.

Community banks support legislation that would exempt them from paying tax on interest earned from farmland loans, arguing it would make them more competitive with government-backed lenders and expand access to credit in rural areas.

Andrew Harmening, who took the helm of the Wisconsin company in April, pointed to an economy emerging from the pandemic and waning loan deferrals, saying that loan growth could resume by the end of the third quarter.

As banks pull back from energy lending, some of the world’s biggest hedge funds are rushing in to fill the gap in oil country.

The fintech specializes in lending to dentists, veterinarians and other solo providers looking to grow or establish their own practice.

Cannabis, though still illegal at the federal level, continues to inch into the financial mainstream. Small credit unions and lenders as large as Valley National and East West have moved beyond just taking deposits from marijuana companies.

Inventory shortfalls continue to constrain commercial lending, while the savings glut is holding back consumer borrowing, industry executives say. The good news: At some banks, pipelines are at or above pre-pandemic levels.

The Biden administration will award $1.25 billion to hundreds of community lenders in an effort to speed the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, Vice President Kamala Harris will announce on Tuesday.

KMD Partners, which makes high-interest rate loans through its CreditNinja brand, has agreed to acquire the $11.7 million-asset Liberty Bank. The purchase is likely to draw scrutiny, but the companies argue that it will help borrowers with lower credit scores qualify for less expensive loans.

Fears of widespread credit losses have largely subsided, but demand for new commercial real estate loans remains lackluster because many companies are sitting on so much cash they don’t need to borrow. Meanwhile, competition from private equity groups and other nonbank lenders is escalating.

Chief operating officer Sam Sidhu takes over as president and chief executive on July 1. He has a list of 25 potential markets the Pennsylvania bank might enter, and has already begun hiring commercial bankers in Texas, Florida and Illinois.

Just as small and midsize businesses had to adapt to survive the coronavirus emergency, lenders need to adopt new underwriting practices and technologies that modernize how they evaluate borrowers' creditworthiness.

On Mar. 31, 2021. Dollars in thousands.

JPMorgan Chase hired executives from Goldman Sachs Group and Wells Fargo to run a new arm focused on growth-equity investing and direct lending, as it seeks to give clients exposure to companies before they go public.

The acting comptroller of the currency, appointed by the Biden administration, signaled that the regulation meant to provide legal clarity about the secondary market is safe for the time being.

In merging with First Midwest Bancorp, the Indiana company would finally gain a presence in the Midwest’s largest city.