When Bank Stock Financing Is Your Answer
For banks actively looking to expand brands, footprints and balance sheets via acquisitions and organic growth, we want you to understand how Bell’s experience and expertise can help.
Our team has years of experience working with banks and understanding their balance sheets and strategies. We offer competitive terms and pricing that can provide flexibility.
Correspondent banker Callie Schlieman answers your bank stock financing questions:
What can Bell do for my bank?
In addition to acquisitions, we offer competitive terms to refinance your existing bank stock debt or provide funds to meet various bank or holding company needs, such as supporting capital to fund growth.
Bank stock financing can help you:
• Expand through mergers and acquisitions
• Maintain healthy balance sheets
• Provide capital for growth
• Buy back investor shares
• Accommodate the formation or purchase of an employee stock ownership plan
• Purchase holding company stock
What do banks need to know about taking out a holding company loan?
It’s an easier process than you might think. We always go in with an open mindset, so there isn’t a one-size-fits-all product. We will tailor a plan to fit your holding company’s and bank’s balance sheets, strategy and cash flow while working within our risk parameters.
Besides the traditional bank stock loan, Bell’s correspondent staff can also team up with your bank by purchasing or selling loan participations.
What is a typical timeframe?
Bank financials are public and tell a quick story of a bank, so our approval turnaround is fast when we can use public data along with standard management reports. We also make our decisions locally, and our decision makers are long-term Bell employees who understand bank balance sheets. We can usually fund the loan within 2 weeks.
Ideally, we like to visit bank management in person. We always strive to meet face to face to better solidify our relationship. However, sometimes we can underwrite remotely over phone conversations, depending on a borrower’s time frame.
What are usual loan terms and amortizations?
We offer both variable and fixed-rate options, with a typical loan term ranging from 12 months to 10 years.
Usually, we like to keep the amortization around 12 years, but if a bank projects growth and needs an interest-only period ahead of the 12 years, we’re flexible. We are here to help you succeed, and placing additional pressure during a growth phase isn’t always in your best interest.
Where are your customers located?
We focus on the Midwest, but if a bank is sound and well-performing, we are always willing to work with borrowers outside of our typical market.
What else should banks know about this process?
We really like to get to know management and strive to have someone on our team meet them in person, no matter how many miles away the bank is. We always want to understand your bank’s history, the risk profile of your bank, what keeps you up at night, and what your goals are for the future.
We really like to get to know management and strive to have someone on our team meet them in person, no matter how many miles away the bank is. We always want to understand your bank’s history, the risk profile of your bank, what keeps you up at night, and what your goals are for the future.
We’re here to partner with you and understand how your bank works, what you offer and if we have any services here at Bell that can benefit you. For example, we can originate all loan types to insiders to alleviate Regulation O concerns and accommodate investor and employee stock purchases.
We are a family-owned, community bank. Our owners love lending to bank holding companies. We are your partner before, during and after recessions.
Don’t miss out on an opportunity because you don’t have the capital you need. Call Callie at 701-433-7430 or email cschlieman@bell.bank.
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