Friday, March 7, 2008

Bankers fear commercial loan ills are next

As the housing market crumbles and recession fears dog the broader economy, bankers are concerned local commercial lending will be next.

Commercial-oriented lending totaled $46 billion as of Sept. 30, 2007, and accounts for 28 percent of metro Atlanta's $162 billion loan market, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Bankers are already noting loans for commercial purposes -- either the development of commercial real estate (called CRE) or for business expansion (known as C&I) -- are widely expected to be the next to have repayment problems.

"We're expecting a deterioration in both CRE and C&I throughout this year, influenced by the broader economy and residential real estate," said Doug Williams, CEO of Atlantic Capital Bank.



http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2008/02/18/story9.html

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