Aaron Hughes, Managing Director of Equiniti Riskfactor, a leading provider in the commercial finance industry, examines the SME lending market for the coming year and the importance of risk management to lenders.

Greater focus placed on domestic deals, albeit majority of U.S. M&A leaders acknowledge that capturing full deal value is a growing sore spot.

The whole financial world is working to move away from Libor and other interbank lending benchmarks, which for decades have been used to set borrowing costs on bonds and loans, as well as products ranging from derivatives to credit cards. Since 2018, more than $150 billion worth of bonds have been sold using rates set by a new generation of benchmarks. The syndicated loan market is lagging far behind, with at least $12 trillion of deals needing to be replaced or rewritten so they follow a Libor alternative. There are no easy fixes in sight despite potential deadlines as early as this year.

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) today announced that it has hired Calvin Navatto as a business development officer in its Commercial Services business.

Navatto will be based in New York City and focus on business development across a wide range of business verticals supported by Commercial Services, including apparel, footwear, housewares, consumer electronics, health and beauty aids and more.

Q3 2019 results generally demonstrate the continuation of trends observed throughout 2019.  Year to date, we continue to have growth in the industry as a whole and credit quality remains solid.  There are a few notable deviations from trends observed throughout the year as we will see.

General economic conditions continue to be top of mind for the secured finance community, but it is interesting to note that we continue to see a divergence between Bank and Non-Bank Lenders with respect to the SFNet Confidence Index. As a reminder, starting in 2019, we have chosen to divide the ABL lender universe along Bank and Non-Bank lines, as opposed to our previous methodology of splitting up the ABL lender universe by portfolio size.

Gerber Finance, the leading finance partner for companies experiencing accelerated growth, today announced the completion of their CEO succession strategy, naming longtime President Jennifer Palmer as CEO with Founder Gerald Joseph transitioning to his new role as strategic advisor and Chairman of the Board.

Great Rock Capital, an asset-focused commercial finance company specializing in middle market lending, today announced Kathleen Auda has joined the firm as Chief Risk Officer. Auda will be responsible for overseeing both the underwriting and portfolio management teams and will report to Stuart Armstrong, CEO and CIO.

New Fortress Energy LLC (NASDAQ: NFE) ("New Fortress" or the "Company") announced today that it has executed a fully committed $800 million term loan facility (the "Term Loan Facility") provided by certain funds and accounts managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc. (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, "Apollo") (NYSE: APO).

Joseph Nemia looks back at 2019 and discusses what the secured finance industry can expect to see in 2020.

A Demica senior director explains how trade receivable securitization programs can be used as a valuable alternative to other funding solutions, especially in cross-border or challenging credit environments.

At 33 years old, Shauna was diagnosed with breast cancer - a head-spinning diagnosis for anyone, but especially a new mother at 33 who considered herself fairly healthy. Then came the draining, life-sapping chemo that would save her life, but leave her feeling weak and malnourished

Huntington Business Credit announced it closed a new $20,000,000 credit facility with Vista Pipe and Supply, LLC on December 6, 2019. Proceeds of the facility were used to refinance existing debt and provide ongoing working capital growth financing.