Specialty Lending Takes Off
August 15, 2012 12:26 PM
(Image: Shutterstock )
Cadence Bancorp
The Houston company raided Regions Bank of Birmingham, Ala. over the past six month to launch a restaurant lending division that aims to attract borrowers nationwide. It also established a healthcare lending arm that caters primarily to firms within its local market. (Image: Shutterstock )
TCF Financial
Based in Wayzata, Minn., TCF has been growing its inventory finance business over the past year and now has exclusive lending agreements with several dealers and distributors of lawn equipment, boats, recreational vehicles and other consumer products in the U.S. and Canada. It also added an automobile lending division late last year that as of June 30 had $224 million of loans on its books. (Image: Shutterstock )
EverBank Financial
The company entered the golf equipment lending business after luring a team of lenders away from TCF. Jacksonville, Fla.-based EverBank is additionally poised to become a bigger force in financing owner-occupied commercial properties with its pending acquisition of Business Property Lending from GE Capital. (Image: Shutterstock )
Wintrust Financial
Already active in the business of financing insurance premiums in the U.S., the Lake Forest, Ill. company has also become a player in Canada with its June acquisition of the insurance-premium funding unit of global banking giant Macquarie Group.
Wells Fargo
The San Francisco giant has not made a traditional bank acquisition since buying Wachovia in 2009, yet it continues to buy up specialty lenders. In April it acquired BNP Paribas' North American energy lending unit, adding $3.5 billion of loans and another $9.5 billion in loan commitments. In February it expanded its European loan book by acquiring an asset-based lender from the Bank of Ireland. (Image: Shutterstock )
SunTrust Banks
Working with third-party administrator First Marblehead, the Atlanta bank is aiming to grab a larger slice of the student-loan market via a newly created program. It allows borrowers to consolidate multiple student debts into a single loan and then choose their own repayment terms. (Image: Shutterstock )
Huntington Bankshares
Like several regional banks, Huntington, of Columbus, Ohio, has extended its indirect auto lending into new markets in an effort to capitalize on surging car sales. The bank also recently hired a healthcare financing specialist and has charged him with expanding its lending in that sector across its six-state footprint. (Image: Shutterstock )
