The Bancorp’s Small Business Lending and Commercial Fleet Leasing divisions have always provided best-in-class service and solutions to clients, no matter their need. Up until January 2019, however, these two divisions worked in separate silos. While efficient individually, our teams saw the potential for something greater.

We saw overlapping needs: small business borrowers needing fleet leasing and fleet leasing customers needing funds to grow and expand. With our teams situated across the country, we knew we could easily meet the needs of our customers. Best of all, in the pre-and post-COVID eras, even meeting face-to-face.

Last year, The Bancorp combined the divisions under one Commercial Lending business, led by seasoned industry expert Jeff Nager, Executive Vice President, with support from Hetal Engineer, Director, SBA National Sales Manager and Jeff Barron, Managing Director, Head of Leasing National Sales. In doing so, The Bancorp provided a turnkey process for commercial lenders through a single point of contact from our team. This resulted in three key value offerings emerging under the new Commercial Lending division: a superior standard of service, one-of-a-kind resources, and industry-leading expertise.

A Superior Standard of Service

The Bancorp Commercial Lending team takes pride in creating a culture that puts people first. Our transparent lending processes and support for the entrepreneurial spirit is manifested in our dedication to work as client advocates, offering reliability in both our services and our people.

One-of-a-Kind Resources

Uniquely combining Small Business Lending and Commercial Fleet Leasing allows us to deliver integrated benefits that better serve our clients. As virtually the only bank-owned commercial vehicle leasing group in the nation and one of the first to partner with the SPARK technology platform, The Bancorp can provide simplified and consolidated end-to-end processes and solutions so our customers can focus on the future of their businesses.

Industry-Leading Expertise

Our collective decades of industry experience enable a deep understanding of the crucial decisions business owners are making — whether there is a need for a small business loan, a leasing solution for a fleet of vehicles, or both.

At the intersection of these three key value offerings is The Bancorp Commercial Lending division — the advocate for your business — helping it evolve for whatever comes next.

Unifying these two divisions wasn’t without its challenges, however. Prior to the integration and due to the nature of their respective businesses, Small Business Lending and Commercial Fleet Leasing had two very different sales cultures.

Rather than slow us down, the differences in sales cultures propelled the new division forward. Jeff Barron personally trained and educated the Commercial Fleet Leasing team about Small Business Lending, and Hetal Engineer did the same for the Small Business Lending team. Today, The Bancorp sales team members are paired across disciplines to determine if a client could benefit from an additional service. Meaning, we aren’t just a unified front at the same booth at a trade show, but we’re here to provide you and your business consolidated end-to-end solutions through a single point of contact.

In short, we identified overlap in our clients’ needs, and we worked hard to meet them.

The integration of the teams was particularly crucial when the COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted businesses starting in March 2020. Fleet Leasing clients who needed Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans were able to secure them quickly by working with our Small Business Lending colleagues.

Thanks to our successful PPP work, The Bancorp was asked to consider making small business loans to other clients in need, including over a dozen franchisees with small business lending needs. Without the integration of the Commercial Lending division, we would not have been able to move as fast as we did to alleviate the challenges small businesses and franchisees faced during the first few months of the pandemic. Some Commercial Fleet Leasing clients that approached us for PPP loans may not have known about The Bancorp Small Business Lending, so had the teams not joined, we may not have been able to help so many businesses with PPP funding.

The opinions, findings, or perspectives expressed in this content are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of The Bancorp, Inc., its affiliates, or its or their employees.