Richard Mount

2021 Inductee, R&C Business Finance

In 1964, Richard Mount organized the asset-based lending department for Connecticut Bank & Trust Company, which, at the time, was the largest commercial bank in Connecticut.  Later, he became the president and CEO of the subsidiary established for this purpose.  Since 1978, Mount has founded and served as CEO of several asset-based finance companies.

Much of his experience rests with the automation of asset-based financing and underwriting many millions of dollars in domestic and international loans.

Stepping away from active practice after selling his most recent company, MidCap Business Credit, LLC, Mount, along with other seasoned finance company executives and professionals, have established R & C Business Finance, LLC.  This company makes rapid computer-assisted evaluations of working capital assets for banks, borrowers and the professionals serving the lending/borrowing needs of those businesses.  The analysis may be used for evaluating collateral for existing and prospective loans on a one-off or continuing basis.  R & C Business Finance, LLC isn’t a replacement lender.

What advice would you offer to someone just starting out in the industry?

Pay close attention to the work done by the person preceding your work contribution and understand what the person above you needs you to do to succeed.

What are some of the most memorable moments of your career?

Facing the rapid increase in the prime interest rate to 21% when non-bank lenders in Connecticut were limited to 18% maximum interest rates or risk facing usury charges. This was the environment that existed shortly after I created my first non-bank commercial finance company.

What role did SFNet play in your career development?

The educational role was the most important part of my earlier development. My first attempt at understanding the business as a graduating accountant was to take advantage of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s banking library. (I worked part-time for the Fed while in college and became familiar with its workings). It is there that I learned of the then-Commercial Finance Association, the predecessor to SFNet. Many of its publications were on file in the Fed’s library and were extremely helpful at illuminating the nature and risks of the commercial finance business. I returned to my work at Connecticut Bank & Trust Company and joined SFNet (then CFA). (I was the first bank lender which was able to join the Association). I read everything I could find in its library, had contact with many of the titans of the finance and factoring industry, and participated in periodic dinners in New York that had a subject presentation relevant to the commercial finance business. All this activity was flawlessly sponsored by SFNet.

How did you get your start in the industry?

I attended Northeastern University, Boston, MA, a co-operative education institution. My later years in its five-year program brought me to Connecticut Bank & Trust Company. Upon graduation and after a tour of duty with the Army National Guard, I accepted the challenge of collecting the bank’s asset-based loans scattered through hundreds of branches. After a couple of years managing these loans, many of which were troubled, and seeing the success the lender could have at redeeming loans that otherwise might not have been repaid were it not for the disciplines of the commercial finance industry, the bank decided it could safely enter the business. The commercial finance business was managed by me and through a subsidiary facility, of which I became the CEO. The bank increased the minimum-size loan it would solicit and, to the point that many smaller, but viable, asset-based loans were turned away for being “too small”, gave me the impetus to leave the bank and start up an independent commercial finance company servicing the smaller loans.