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AFS Insights on Commercial Lending

With 50 years of experience, and tightly knit industry and regulatory contacts, AFS has unique insight into the commercial lending industry. Here, we share those insights to provide a better understanding of what trends are shaping the future of the industry.


Continued Growth Despite Growing Headwinds: What 1Q2022 Showed Us in Commercial Lending Coming out of 2021, when there were signs that the economy and commercial lending were on the rebound, we continued to see growth in the first quarter of 2022, despite some growing headwinds.				The Good News from 2021 – Signs Point to Commercial Lending Growth The last couple of years have been bumpy, to say the least. As strains of COVID and various government programs, most notable the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), came and went in waves, the industry was on constant alert to react to the larger economic environment.

Keep the SOFR Momentum Going! Despite setbacks, most notably from the COVID-19 pandemic, most regulators and investors expect the process to replace LIBOR with SOFR to remain on track.				Make the Connection: Commercial Banking and Real-Time Payments The concept of connectivity is a defining proposition of the digital age of banking. Lines of business and systems can no longer operate as stand-alone entities, but need to be all connected in order to better serve a new customer-centric universe.

Lending in the Time of COVID-19 How have banks handled the dramatic influx of loan demand in a short period of time? This piece takes a look at lending in the time of COVID-19.				Replacing LIBOR: Understanding Your Choices With the end of LIBOR fast approaching, a new era for reference rates dawns and the industry is already making the shift to alternatives, with implications across the finance landscape.

Stay on Track for the LIBOR Transition AFS has identified four key areas banks should be concentrating on to make sure they Stay on Track for the LIBOR Transition.				ESG and Data Quality Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) – you have most likely heard of it, but what is it? And what does it mean for the future of commercial lending?

Getting Real about Real-Time in Commercial Lending This blog discusses why it’s past time to get “real” about real-time in order to enhance the customer experience, mitigate risk, promote efficiency, and increase the bottom line.				Let’s Talk About SOFR Moving from LIBOR to SOFR. In this blog, AFS discusses the move from LIBOR to SOFR and what to expect in the future.

5 Reasons to Transform Your Commercial Lending Business This first installment of the AFS Insights Transformation series takes a look at the necessity of transforming from “business and technology as usual” to a forward-looking, digital commercial lending management approach.				Success in Transformation The third and final AFS Insights Transformation series installment on commercial lending transformation, here we focus on one bank’s decision-making process to commit to a total transformation, and how it became a success.

				4 Key Elements for Commercial Lending Transformation The second in our AFS Insights Transformation series, here we examine the next steps in a commercial lending management transformation and detail what’s needed to make that transformation a success.