Banks reported decent loan growth in the spring and early summer as businesses rushed to draw down credit lines and tap the Paycheck Protection Program. But demand has been muted since, and bankers can only guess when it will pick back up.
The bank has begun briefing regulators about how it mistakenly sent payments to creditors of Revlon, the financially strapped cosmetics company. Citi has also filed a lawsuit against Brigade Capital Management seeking to recoup $175 million it sent to Brigade on Revlon's behalf.
The biggest lenders seem to have handled the corporate rush for cash heading into the economic shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But their ability to collect is as uncertain as the economic outlook for the next year.
Dozens of firms in industries most immediately hit by the virus and oil-price war — such as leisure, transportation, health care, energy and mining — have been drawing billions of dollars from existing credit lines.
The company hired Kevin Thompson, a CFO with big-bank experience, to take over its top financial post. Once a fast-growing bank, Opus has spent recent months cutting costs and exiting certain business lines.
