industry trends Posts

Lessons from America’s Top Commercial Lenders

Posted on September 9, 2024 by Baker Hill

The current environment is very challenging for commercial lenders. Even with higher interest rates, a weak office market and inflation, there are still good business opportunities for forward-thinking commercial bankers that follow these proven strategies, which we’ll cover in today’s...

Business Banking Outlook is Positive: What this Means for SMB Lending

Posted on September 2, 2024 by Baker Hill

Business owners have an optimistic outlook for the remainder of 2024, according to the BAI 2024 Small Business Banking Outlook report . “Businesses have fared better than consumers in the post-pandemic inflationary environment,” noted BAI research director Mark Riddle...

Why It’s Time to Ditch Excel for Risk Management

Posted on July 29, 2024 by Baker Hill

Spreadsheet software like Excel is helpful for a multitude of use cases, especially in the world of finance. In fact, a recent study by Wolters Kluwer revealed that 85% of bank respondents report using spreadsheets and other manual processes to...

Risk & Growth: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Posted on June 14, 2024 by Baker Hill

In a recent article in the Financial Brand, Dr. Wendy Smith, the Dana J. Johnson Professor of Business, faculty director and co-founder of the Women’s Leadership Initiative at the University of Delaware advised banking leaders to steer between competing priorities...

Why Now is a Perfect Time for a Credit Department Tune-Up

Posted on June 10, 2024 by Baker Hill

As bankers are keeping an eye on CRE lending challenges affecting both supply and demand for capital, demand from borrowers is well off the robust pace of lending that many banks saw in 2022. The good news is that...

Avoiding the Most Common Pitfalls in Battle for Deposits

Posted on April 5, 2024 by Baker Hill

The deposit environment has changed drastically in the last couple of years. During the Covid-19 pandemic, interest rates were at zero for an extended period, while the government injected cash into the economy through stimulus payments and PPP loans. The...