CHAPTER SPOTLIGHT

Over 300 attendees gathered at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, CA on September 11 for CFA's Southern California Chapter'sPresidents' Panel event. Four asset-based lending leaders, Henry Jordan, CEO, Wells Fargo Capital Finance, William Kosis, CEO, PNC Business Credit, Jeffrey McLane, president, Bank of America Business Capital and Michael Sharkey, president, Cole Taylor Business Capital, offered their perspective and observations on a variety of issues affecting the commercial finance industry. Gail Bernstein, executive vice president of PNC Business Credit, served as panel moderator.

After an hour of networking, the Panel kicked off with Bernstein posing questions ranging from individual banking perspectives to thoughts about global interest rates, making for a lively discussion between the panelists. Following the presentation, attendees had the opportunity to ask panelists questions. After the Q&A session, attendees and panelists were invited to the dining area for food, drinks and further conversation.

Commenting on Bank of America Business Capital, McLane said, "We're very focused on proactively managing risk - credit risk, operational risk, reputational risk, and all forms of risk. We view them all as incredibly important, and spend a lot of time focused on them every day. We've been very active this year with both existing and new clients. We've seen a lot of activity in the core middle market, with deals ranging from $10 million to $50 million. We've also seen a moderate level of activity with financial sponsors in the middle market. The ABL market remains a competitive market, as it has for many years, and we continue to look for ways to grow responsibly, and have been successful in that effort."

Wells Fargo Capital Finance'sHenry Jordan noted that, from a borrower's perspective, 2013 has been a great year in terms of availability of capital.

"We hope to see continued economic growth throughout the remainder of 2013 and into 2014. Our economists are anticipating a modest rate increase as the Fed pulls back on its buying programs, and continued steady improvement in the main drivers of the U.S. economy, housing, manufacturing and unemployment."

Jordan added that the improving economy has strengthened Wells' loan portfolio, but commented, "We're seeing a highly competitive marketplace driven by strong liquidity in our market as well as other credit markets. We have yet to see a meaningful uptick in new acquisition-driven financings, which means our origination efforts have not been as strong as we would like. We've stuck to the basics. We've stayed focused on our customers, continuing to look for new ways to deliver the capital and services they need"

Cole Taylor Business Capital's Sharkey said the number and nature of competitors in the ABL space continues to grow and that the senior talent pool to manage those operations is finite.

"The number of experienced lenders, sales people, underwriters, field examiners and operations personnel to staff new and growing operations is stretched. So who has the right people? Who is going to survive and prosper? I think that is balanced on the strength of the team and their ability to apply standard tried-andtrue ABL lending disciplines. Anyone who has been in our business long enough knows that the landscape is littered with failed ABL operations. That won't be anything new. It's our job to insure that proper ABL practices are followed to insure the stability and long-term integrity of our industry and that it continues to be a safe and stable environment for our customers

and employees to grow and prosper."

The Secured Lender would like to thank Jason Anish, senior vice president of Summit Financial Resources, and board member of CFA's California Chapter, for covering and reporting on this event.