Community Banks Collaborate on C&I Lending

The traditional community banking model, while still viable, is being challenged because of economic, competitive, technological and regulatory forces—many of which are beyond the control of any individual community bank. The largest banks have used their massive size, product set, and more recently, technology, to make dramatic gains in market share at the expense of community banks. I believe that progressive community banks should be considering new ways of doing business, especially in regards to their lending strategies.

Community banks do many things far better than their larger competitors, while enjoying a degree of trust and resiliency that the megabanks may never achieve. But those big banks boast something the community banks, standing alone, cannot match: the scale to operate the lending platforms which are now necessary in most lines of business—including commercial & industrial (C&I) lending. Many American businesses now require loan amounts of $50 million or more, a loan size that typically defines the low end of the “middle market.” Those loans required by middle market borrowers, companies providing goods and services serving a wide range of industries, far exceed the individual lending capacity of the typical community bank. The teams required to source, screen, underwrite and manage these larger loans are typically out of reach for a community bank.

To date, those megabank advantages have clearly outweighed the strengths of community banking in C&I lending. Without the ability to deliver many of the commercial loans that middle market businesses require, community banks are stuck in a quandary in which they often have to turn away customers with successful, growing businesses. The numbers are clear: In 1990, community banks with under $10 billion in assets accounted for over one-third of C&I loans held on the balance sheets of banks. By the end of 2014, community banks’ share of the C&I market has dropped to just over 15 percent of the market. The continuation of this trend will likely limit the profitability and growth of community banks as well as their ability to positively affect their communities in other lines of business. Equally important, it also subjects those banks to less diversified loan portfolios and the risk associated with loan concentrations, particularly in commercial real estate.

While each community bank may individually struggle to match the scale of the mega-banks, it is important to keep in mind that the biggest banks are saddled with their own challenges such as bureaucracy, legacy systems, resistance to change, customer fatigue and burdensome regulatory oversight.

Community banks, but for their individual lack of scale, ought to be well positioned to capitalize on these opportunities and to outcompete the megabanks. The innovation required for community banks to break this logjam—to free them to focus on their strengths—is here, and its essence is this: community banks no longer need to stand alone.

They can prosper by working together, particularly in gaining access to middle market lending. Community banks do have the scale enjoyed by the biggest banks, they just don’t have it on their own. Together, community banks hold $2.3 trillion in assets—13 percent of the assets held by US banks, and just shy of the assets of JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest US bank. The question is how to leverage that scale while preserving the individuality, proximity to the customer and legendary service that contribute to their unique value.

Community banks should consider joining together in alliances or cooperatives in order to gain access to C&I loans, including diversified sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, technology, and business services. In addition to using such partnerships to successfully source these loans on a national basis, other benefits such as diversification (size, geography, and industry type), access to larger customers, and combined expertise in underwriting and loan management can be achieved. One such cooperative, BancAlliance, consists of over 200 community bank members and has sourced over $2 billion in such loans.

Through partnerships such as these, community banks can succeed in delivering loans to job-creating middle market businesses throughout our country at a reasonable cost to each community bank, while adding to their net interest margin and diversifying their balance sheet.