TSL Feature Articles

In the last couple of years, the finance industry has been undergoing a profound transformation, which has been driven by technology, globalization, evolving regulation, and shifting cultural expectations. At the center of this change is another powerful movement: the rise of women transitioning into new roles, leadership positions, and specialized domains within finance.

This column highlights the hard work and dedication of SFNet’s Committee volunteers. Here we speak with Boudewijn Smit, partner at NautaDutilh and chair of SFNet’s Emerging Leaders (Young Professionals) Committee.

Editor’s Note: This article originally was published in the January/February issue of The Secured Lender magazine and contains updated information about the SFNet Emerging Leaders Summit.

The most traditional avenue for a distressed company seeking to reorganize existing debts or maximize company value is through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. However, due to its complexity, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy can be a lengthy, expensive process that is not always palatable for the distressed company’s secured lenders.

I've spent 35 years across the table from secured lenders. I've watched some become legends and watched others get fired. The difference was rarely their spreadsheet skills. The best ones have something in common. They think like Stoics.

In this interview, Bruce Gibson, first vice president, senior relationship manager, Ken Kaestner, director and ABL Group head, and Ron Krauskopf,  executive vice president - head of Specialty Commercial Lending, discuss how Provident Bank is scaling its asset-based and specialty lending capabilities to support middle-market borrowers across New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and New York. They highlight growing demand for flexible working capital solutions, the mainstreaming of ABL in a volatile environment, and Provident’s ability to compete with larger institutions while preserving local decision making and relationship continuity. 

The second quarter of 2026 demonstrated the continued resilience of the secured finance market, with 224 deals reported to SFNet's Secured Finance Deal Table. Activity remained broad-based across industries, financing structures and lender types, illustrating the flexibility of asset-based lending, factoring and specialty finance solutions as companies navigated a still-uncertain economic environment.

Asset-based lending is fundamentally focused on capital-intensive and asset-heavy businesses.  Because tariffs impact the sales of goods (as opposed to the provision of services) they will typically have an outsized impact on the borrowers under asset-based credit facilities.  This article will discuss recent tariff-related developments and analyze potential impact on the users and providers of asset-based financing.

The factoring industry entered 2026 with a familiar dynamic, but one that feels increasingly consequential: growth driven not by economic strength, but by constraint elsewhere in the credit system. The Secured Finance Network’s 2025 Year-End Factoring Survey shows an industry that is expanding across nearly every core metric—volume, utilization, revenue, and client demand—even as the broader economy slows and traditional lending channels become more selective.