John Reosti

Changes are needed to shore up the agency's finances and guarantee the integrity of its flagship 7(a) lending program, according to a leading trade group.

A record 22 credit unions announced plans to acquire banks in 2024, though the year ended on a discordant note as regulatory concerns appear to have derailed a planned CU-bank deal in Georgia.

The Seattle-based company's deal with Bank of America comes five weeks after the termination of its planned sale to FirstSun Capital Bancorp in Denver.

Some lenders are once again hiring mortgage lenders, but memories of the painful staffing cuts they were forced to make over the past two years remain top of mind.

The average size of a Small Business Administration 7(a) loan has fallen to just over $400,000, a level last reached in 2017, according to agency statistics.

The Minneapolis-based banking giant is enjoying its biggest year ever for 7(a) lending, with volume up 40%, as borrowers "are still coming to us," its SBA chief said.

The sale of the $318 million-asset portfolio comes five weeks after the Greenville, South Carolina-based company agreed to sell its investment advisory unit.

The agency admitted navigating the different rules and regulations involved in its four existing lines of credit proved time consuming and confusing and kept some lenders from offering them altogether.

In talks with OCC officials, "it became obvious that we would not gain near-term approval given their recent experience with multifamily and CRE positions," FirstSun CEO Neal Arnold says. The companies announced other revisions to their deal, too.

Cullen/Frost in Texas, BankUnited in Florida and Bank OZK in Arkansas are among the banks that have, at least for now, allayed investors' fears about their exposure to the CRE sector.

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.

Washington Trust shares plunged after the Westerly, Rhode Island, company disclosed it booked an office deal in the third quarter, boosting the size of its portfolio while other lenders are pulling back.

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.

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.

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 Philadelphia-based company will eliminate an undisclosed number of jobs as part of a plan to refocus on core business lines and markets, CEO Thomas Geisel said.

At the embattled Republic First Bancorp, elevated legal, professional and audit fees also contributed to a nearly $10 million in first-quarter loss but CEO Thomas Geisel reports signs of progress moving past "legacy headwinds."

Kearny Financial is partially restructuring its balance sheet in response to a problem that many banks are facing. The bank's actions should result in a sizeable income boost once they're fully phased in, an analyst said.

The addition of investment bank Capstone Partners and the wider geographic footprint that resulted from the acquisition of TCF Financial helped drive a 58% increase in net income during the third quarter.

The same day Provident Financial Services announced it had agreed to buy Lakeland for $1.3 billion, the seller disclosed an ongoing fair-lending investigation by the Justice Department. Provident said it has "not heard anything" that would give it pause.