The Misery of C&I Lending
Today, despite an increasingly difficult profit environment for bank loans, many banks continue to pursue C&I lending. Reacting to more aggressive competitors and a more demanding commercial customer, bank management…
Rethinking the Branch and Small Business
Bank management knows that the effective use of the branch serves as a key determinant of small business success. If your branch is closely linked into the small business effort,…
Creating a Small Business Profit Checklist
Banks want to maximize profits from their small business efforts. This newsletter provides a brief “profit maximization” checklist for banks to follow, whether they are organized on a geographic or…
Why Some Banks Will Continue to Miss the Boat in Small Business
Banks and non-bank financial services companies seem to have finally gotten the message about small business. More senior bankers truly understand that small business represents a highly attractive segment that…
Private Equity Is Coming to Banking
Last week’s business press featured two major stories, the purchase of Sallie Mae (by a partnership of two private equity firms and two banks) and the intensifying tussle over ABN…
The Solution to First Quarter Blues… Small Business
First quarter 2007 results for the banking industry will show some negative surprises. The margin squeeze continues, propelled by the flat yield curve and a competitive environment in which lenders…
What Should Big Banks Do with Small Business?
In our last newsletter we outlined the surprisingly low share numbers for the largest banks in the small business segment and focused on the multiple challenges they face in succeeding…
Why Big Banks Fail at Small Business
Large banks are failing to increase their penetration of the small business segment. A recent American Banker article estimates that in 2006, banks with assets greater than $100 billion captured…
Private Equity, Hedge Funds and Your Bank
Virtually every day the business press features a story detailing another huge private equity deal. This Monday’s papers discussed the acquisition of TXU, a Texas-based utility, by a group of…
Pruning the Branch System
Several readers responded positively to our last newsletter focusing on the opportunity for banks to adapt McDonald’s recent management practices to their own institutions. Taking us in a…