Voya Investment Management, the asset management business of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), and the Illinois Bankers Association (IBA) announced today that they have entered into a commercial and industrial (C&I) loan growth partnership program known as the Voya Senior Loan Advisory Program.
While community and small regional banks have historically excelled at small business underwriting and relationship management, Voya’s C&I program recognizes that the syndicated loan market demands a broader industry knowledge and timely action. Participating commercial banks benefit from Voya’s unique market leadership, experience, relationships, credit risk management, training and sourcing capabilities while effectively keeping independent research and decision-making within their walls, thus satisfying regulatory requirements.
Under this program, community and regional banking commercial credit professionals can build portfolios of senior secured commercial and industrial loans. These portfolios benefit from Voya’s access to the new loan and secondary markets, strong and ongoing loan underwriting and monitoring processes which are compliant with regulatory guidelines and prudential standards. Through education and mentoring, banks learn about the implementation and monitoring of compliant portfolios that offer diversification, value recognition and loss avoidance as their core objectives.
"The IBA is thrilled to join forces with Voya IM to provide our members with an exceptional opportunity. Through this collaboration, we aim to bring enhanced experience, access, and credit risk management services to Illinois banks,” said Callan Stapleton, president of Illinois Bankers Business Services, Inc. (IBBS). “Together, we are introducing two distinct programs that will enable our members to expand their offerings with variable rate commercial and industrial loans. Voya will be an exceptional resource to add to the IBA’s preferred vendor lineup.”
Banks may work individually to build portfolios one loan at a time or as a group to share in a portfolio of select loans “Our goal is to provide banks with a turnkey solution that combines education, preparation and implementation to enable them to enter the $1.4 trillion senior loan market,” said Randy Cameron, co-head of the Voya Bank Advisory Group. “This asset class benefits banks looking for a combination of loan diversification, asset growth, interest and fee income and floating rate assets.”