The Canadian bank blamed flat profits at its U.S. business, which includes Chicago-based lender BMO Harris Bank, partly on Washington gridlock that has stalled pro-business reforms.
With the deadline for a federal-debt-limit renewal nearly a month away, bankers are dreading the prospect of higher funding costs, strained liquidity, weaker commercial loan demand and other ramifications if Washington does not act.
A Fed committee studying Libor’s replacement has dwelled heavily on the potential impact to the derivatives market. Loans may become a bigger part of the conversation later this year, but the panel plans to leave a lot of the specifics up to lenders.
Triumph Bancorp in Dallas has successfully taken chances on out-of-state acquisitions, factoring and other nontraditional strategies that many of its peers have avoided.
Young businesses often prefer banks, especially community banks, over online lenders. However, traditional lenders need to make quicker decisions, simplify the application process and make other improvements, these customers say.
Many banks are adopting an “it takes money to make money” approach, paying more interest on deposits in exchange for loan growth, fee income and customer retention.
The Fed’s quarterly Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey found that demand decreased for both commercial and industrial and commercial real estate loans.
Profits rose 20% at the Texas bank, but net interest margin growth last quarter, and the bank’s margin outlook for the rest of this year, disappointed analysts and investors.
The Blairsville, Ga., bank is in growth mode with strong second-quarter lending performances and two deals in the works, but its provision for loan losses was described as too low in one research note.
