Commercial lending

CoBiz Financial in Denver postponed a conference call to discuss its fourth-quarter earnings, after an $11.2 million loan was downgraded and placed into nonaccrual status.

College Ave Student Loans, an online lender in Wilmington, Del., announced Thursday that it has raised $20 million in equity financing.

TCF Financial in Wayzata, Minn., reported higher profits on lower provision costs and a pickup in lending in the fourth quarter.

Bank executives have faced relentless questions about their energy-sector exposure during fourth-quarter earnings calls this month, as oil has bobbed above and below $30 a barrel. They are taking more drastic actions to contain losses, but it still might not be enough.

The energy sector downturn took a big bite out of quarterly earnings at Cullen/Frost Bankers in San Antonio.

Enterprise Financial Services in Clayton, Mo., has acquired a $21 million loan portfolio as part of its formation of an aircraft financing unit.

Ag lenders enjoyed solid credit metrics and an increase in farms loans in 2015. Those results could come under pressure this year, requiring bankers to become more vigilant in talking to their agricultural clients.

Regulators and alarmists are targeting a key source of financing on which some of the best-known American companies rely.

It is too early in the Providence, R.I., bank's turnaround plan to buy another bank, CEO Bruce Van Saun says. Instead, he would rather invest in acquiring commercial, mortgage and other loan officers who can feed revenue while he tries to make the bank more efficient.

A new class of fintech startups is using loan applicants' social networks to determine creditworthiness as the banking industry debates the merits of alternate underwriting methods.