Wintrust Financial in Rosemont, Illinois, agreed to buy $570 million of loans from Allstate Corp. in Chicago. The portfolio is made up of an estimated 1,800 loans to Allstate insurance agents, who use the credit to establish and grow their businesses.
The $48 billion-asset Wintrust said it also agreed to become the preferred provider of loans to Allstate agents, who are spread across the country. As part of the deal, a team of Allstate agency lending specialists will join the Wintrust team to help it expand the bank’s existing insurance agency finance business.
“This portfolio and the related ongoing opportunity is a great fit with our existing insurance finance business,” Wintrust CEO Ed Wehmer said in a press release Monday.
Wintrust’s First Insurance Funding business finances commercial insurance premiums. The bank’s Wintrust Life Finance division finances life insurance premiums. Both have been growth businesses over the past year and contributed about $10 billion to Wintrust’s total third-quarter loans of $33.3 billion. Each insurance division had third-quarter loan growth of more than 10% from the prior quarter.
In addition to traditional agency term loan and revolving credit financing, Wintrust will offer to Allstate agents Small Business Administration loans and commercial real estate-related financing, as well as wealth management and residential mortgage services.
