INTRODUCING 16 WAYS TO GROW YOUR C&I PORTFOLIO IN 2016

Transcription

1 INTRODUCING 16 WAYS TO GROW YOUR C&I PORTFOLIO IN 2016 Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I ll give you a stock clerk. J.C. Penney

2 INTRODUCING 16 WAYS TO GROW YOUR C&I PORTFOLIO IN 2016 It s that time of year again time to set goals and make things happen. With the business of commercial lending changing faster than ever before, financial institutions will be faced with significant challenges and opportunities in 2016 from the continued advance of alternative and online lenders to the likelihood of rising rates. You need a plan of attack to help separate your financial institution from the rest of the herd. With that in mind, here are 16 things you can do during 2016 to assure solid growth and strong asset quality in your C&I business.

3 Re-evaluate your product mix to assure you are offering the most useful tools to your business clients. This should be an ongoing process. Always look at your mix! Jack Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. Inc.

4 Allow commercial customers and prospects to initiate loan applications online, 24/7. Without this capability, you are losing market share every day between the hours of 4 p.m. and 8 a.m., plus weekends. Don t believe it? Just look at the growth numbers for online lenders Jack Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. Inc.

5 Partner with organizations that can help you to maximize your strengths while minimizing your weaknesses. To effectively compete against larger financial institutions, you will need to leverage technology and services that others offer. Determine where you want to build it yourself and where it is more efficient to partner with third-party vendors.

6 Develop a strategy to incubate your loan declines for a later look. Rather than saying, No, I can t help you with a loan, you ll be able to say, I can t help you at this time, but I may know someone who can. And I would love the opportunity to take another look when your year-end financial statements come out or your business improves. You ll soften credit decline while building goodwill not to mention referral fees.

7 Focus your marketing presence on getting your name on the street and on the web. Now that the Internet is largely mobile, an online presence and a street presence are becoming one and the same. Are you there yet?

8 Take your lenders on joint sales calls to businesses in your community. Learn first-hand what the real needs are locally so you can ensure your organization is set up to respond.

9 Develop Centers of Influence in your community such as CPAs, business consultants, and attorneys who can help you to expand your commercial portfolio through referral networks. Referred prospects are far easier to sell than found ones.

10 Invest in technology. Nothing will cut overhead faster than ensuring your lending staff is as efficient as possible at monitoring all types of collateral. Modern technology enables you to offer more options with fewer resources.

11 Keep the regulators happy by using collateral tracking systems that create consistency among lending officers and lending units. Regulators are looking for consistency in the monitoring of credit risk, and they see the benefits that third-party vendor technologies can offer. A good source for more information is OCC Bulletin , Third-Party Relationships: Risk Management Guidance.

12 Utilize products and banking services that will increase both interest and non-interest income while simultaneously enhancing efficiency ratios. Yes that is possible and it is happening today. You do not have to be a slave to NIM compression.

13 Tap into the healthcare market in a meaningful way. Healthcare in the US will grow about 6% in By year end, it will represent more than 18% of the GDP in this country. No financial institution can afford to have a business strategy that ignores 18% of the market.

14 Once you determine your market strategy and product mix (#1), ask yourself whether you have the right personnel in place to excel. Continuously evaluate your team asking where more training or new talent can move your plan forward. Many vendors can help bring niche product and service expertise to your institution as well.

15 Move beyond Excel spreadsheets. Financial technology has moved far beyond the capabilities of spreadsheets. It s time to begin managing your lending pipelines with purpose and efficiency.

16 Provide a deep product mix that allows you to continue servicing clients as their needs change. Utilize working capital lending solutions that can seamlessly carry a business from its first line of credit to large ABL lines, and everything in between.

17 Ensure asset quality, because without it you cannot have long-term profitability. It s not enough to grow business. You need to grow good business. To do that, you must be able to constantly evaluate businesses under stress for changes.

18 Utilize a strong portfolio management system. It s critical to your success. Solutions that seamlessly tie in third-party software to execute the entire C&I life cycle from application, through analysis, underwriting, documentation, credit reporting, collateral tracking and evaluation, and ongoing business metric analysis are the way of the future.

19 Some would say the US is headed toward an environment with just a handful of banks; that the community bank of today will soon be obsolete. We at ProfitStars believe, however, that community-based financial institutions can be stronger than ever in 2016 and beyond if they develop strong, productive partnerships with quality businesses that support the industry. We would like to be one of your partners in that process, and we can help you to achieve all 16 items on the list. Give us a call and let s develop the plan. The greater danger for most of us isn t that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. Michelangelo