The New York bank has also joined a steering committee helping to develop a global accounting standard that financial institutions can use to measure their impact on global warming.
While rival banks reported increases in loans and deposits, thanks largely to their participation in the Paycheck Protection Program, State Street and Bank of New York Mellon saw their balance sheets shrink in the second quarter.
The Birmingham, Ala., company more than doubled its loan-loss provision from three months earlier and its chief financial officer said that more than half of its loans to oil and gas companies could eventually become criticized.
Bank of America was the latest large bank to report a second-quarter drop in the key earnings metric after a March surge in credit line utilizations gave way to rapid payoffs in May and June.
Bankers Healthcare Group, which is minority owned by the Tennessee company, is moving beyond its primary strategy of selling health care originations to community banks and will start marketing pools of loans to investors.
The energy sector, retail and hospitality are among the industries that are faring poorly during the pandemic. The bank expects loan losses to remain elevated well into 2021.
The company has established a fund that will provide capital, technical assistance and long-term recovery support to small businesses, especially minority-owned companies. The other megabanks are expected to donate their fees, also.
The New York commercial bank says geographic diversification is a long-term necessity and that the interplay of its private banking and commercial banking businesses has helped it withstand the economic shock of the coronavirus.
The Paycheck Protection Program propped up many banks' balance sheets in the first half of the year, but what will drive loan demand in the second half?
Some observers said the central bank should have suspended dividends entirely in response to an unprecedented economic emergency caused by the pandemic. Others said its more cautious moves were appropriate because big banks' capital is strong and the economy could bounce back.
