First Citizens Bank today announced the official launch of its Middle Market Banking unit to support the financial needs and goals of midsize businesses across the Southeastern U.S.

Headquartered in Charlotte, First Citizens Middle Market Banking is now serving clients across North Carolina and neighboring Southeastern states, including Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, with a full-suite of banking services.

By Suzanne Konstance, Boaz Salik, and Archita Bhandari

The effects of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis are being felt in almost every financial sector. While current CARES Act stimulus programs offer strong government support for lending through these programs, these are a short-term opportunity. Overall, institutions that lend money are incurring increasingly higher levels of risk. The most obvious concern surrounds borrower default and lenders are facing the challenge of maximizing recovery on their existing portfolio as default rates are increasing and will continue to increase significantly in the near future. The spike in unemployment recalls how the Great Recession of 2008-09 caused a wave of bankruptcy cases, and it’s nearly certain that we will see an uptick in business and consumer bankruptcy filings. As a result, we see several large lenders continue to increase their credit loss reserves. There are ways to increase recoveries, however, and one is to systematically file UCCs on a portfolio as early as possible.