Days after one publicly traded Wisconsin bank agreed to sell itself, another said it’s in negotiations on more than $500 million in new loans in the Chicago area and plans to crack the Top 10 in deposit market share here in the next five years.
Associated Bank, part of Green Bay-based Associated Banc-Corp., has had a Chicago presence for 26 years and has 27 branches here with 275 employees.
It has a ways to go, though, with its current deposit market share of 0.68 percent ranking it No. 24 in the market. The current No. 10 is MB Financial Inc., which holds 2.96 of deposits in the Chicago area.
Earlier this year, its new chief executive, Philip Flynn, vowed to be more aggressive in Chicago. At the time, Associated said it was looking to add 10 to 20 Chicago-area commercial bankers to a 35-person force.
It now has about 60 commercial bankers in the Chicago area, including Donna Smith, executive vice president of commercial banking. Smith joined in June from Bank of America, and earlier LaSalle. Smith reports to Chicagoan Mark Sander, who leads all of commercial banking for Associated Banc-Corp. Other notable hires include Breck Hanson, also from BofA via LaSalle veteran. Hanson runs the Bank’s commercial real estate operations and reports directly to Flynn.
In October, Flynn said in an earnings conference call that Associated continues to see increased activity in commercial banking.
“We’re now in the fourth month of increasing pipeline in the commercial banking business,” Flynn said. “Commercial loan production during the third quarter was up significantly from the previous quarter,” with Chicago among the markets enjoying the biggest gains.
“The pipeline for Chicago has increased significantly during the past 45 days as we begin to realize the benefits of the investments in people we’ve made there,” Flynn said.
Many banks operating in Chicago believe that the opportunity to grab new middle-market borrowers has never been better since Bank of America’s October 2007 acquisition of LaSalle Bank, which had ranked second in deposit market share.
Sander said Associated has $576 million in potential middle-market loans in Chicago in its pipeline.
“That’s people we’re actively talking to” about taking out loans, Sander said. It considers middle-market companies ones with revenue of $5 million to $500 million, though it has clients with revenue of $1 billion.
A person familiar with Associated’s Chicago operations estimates that it has about $1 billion in middle market loans on its books here.
Smith said Associated’s goal is to become a Top 10 bank in Chicago in the next five years. It’s not ruling out acquisitions to get there, Sander said.
Last week, Bank of Montreal, the parent of Harris Bank, which ranks third in deposit market share in Chicago, announced a $4.1 billion deal to purchase Wisconsin lender Marshall & Ilsley Corp.
byerak@tribune.com
Days after one publicly traded Wisconsin bank agreed to sell itself, another said it’s in negotiations on more than $500 million in new loans in the Chicago area and plans to crack the Top 10 in deposit market share here in the next five years.
Associated Bank, part of Green Bay-based Associated Banc-Corp., has had a Chicago presence for 26 years and currently has 27 branches here with 275 employees.
It has a ways to go, though, with its current deposit market share of 0.68 percent ranking it only No. 24 in the market. The current No. 10 is MB Financial Inc., which holds 2.96 of deposits in the Chicago area.
Earlier this year, its new chief executive, Philip Flynn, vowed to be more aggressive in Chicago. At the time, Associated said it was looking to add 10 to 20 Chicago-area commercial bankers to a 35-person force. It now has about 60 commercial bankers in the Chicago area, including Donna Smith, executive vice president of commercial banking. Smith joined in June of this year from BofA, and earlier LaSalle. Smith reports to Chicagoan Mark Sander, who leads all of commercial banking for Associated Banc-Corp. Other notable hires include Breck Hanson, also from BofA and a long time LaSalle veteran. Hanson runs the Bank’s commercial real estate operations and reports directly to Flynn.
In October, Flynn said in an earnings conference call that Associated continues to see increased activity in its commercial banking business.
“We’re now in the fourth month of increasing pipeline in the commercial banking business,” Flynn said. “Commercial loan production during the third quarter was up significantly from the previous quarter,” with Chicago among the markets enjoying the biggest gains.
“The pipeline for Chicago has increased significantly during the past 45 days as we begin to realize the benefits of the investments in people we’ve made there,” Flynn said.
Many banks operating in Chicago believe that the opportunity to grab new middle-market borrowers has never been better since Bank of America’s October 2007 acquisition of LaSalle Bank, which had ranked second in deposit market share.
Sander said Associated has $576 million in potential middle-market loans in Chicago in its pipeline.
“That’s people we’re actively talking to” about taking out loans, Sander said. It considers middle-market companies ones with revenues of $5 million to $500 million, although it has clients with revenues of $1 billion.
A person familiar with Associated’s Chicago operations estimates that it currently has about $1 billion in middle market loans on its books here.
Smith said Associated’s goal is to become a Top 10 bank in Chicago in the next five years. It’s not ruling out acquisitions to get there, Sander said.
Last week, Bank of Montreal, the parent of Harris Bank, which ranks third in deposit market share in Chicago, announced a $4.1 billion deal to purchase Wisconsin lender Marshall & Ilsley Corp.
