Vincent Pitts, CRC

Jay Long recently contributed to the American Bankers Association Foundation’s Ideas to Impact report with a clear recommendation: small-business lending requires better visibility at intake. Today, banks and credit unions often operate with inconsistent data standards and opaque credit criteria. This limits their ability to understand approval patterns, measure credit errors, and expand capital access responsibly. Addressing fragmentation at the front of the process is foundational to long-term performance. Read the full report from the American Bankers Association Foundation: https://lnkd.in/eHDaBPY9 Explore insights from other thought leaders: Dawn Machacek – ConnectOne Bank | Evan Leaphart – Kredit Academy | Mary Jo Halder– Credit Builders Alliance | Catherine Rios – FirstBank | Rachael DeLeon – AFCPE® (Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education®) | Erin Kilmer Neel – Beneficial State Foundation | Tahan Menon – ideas42 | Stephen Postier – Henderson State Bank | David Radcliffe – The New School Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy | Sarah Gordon – Financial Health Network | Cherilyn Richardson – Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund | Dwight Conover – Northwest Financial Corp. | Shena Ashley – Capital One | Jared Taylor – Bank of Utah | Operation HOPE | Thomas Nitzsche & Helene Raynaud - Money Management International (MMI) International | Israel Ahanbare, FIMC, CMC, FIMC, CMC - SYNLAB Nigeria | Felicia Correa - Banco Popular | Brooke Mott - Southside Bank #ABAFdn #BankingLeadership #SmallBusiness #CreditRisk #Finserv #Fintech #ABA #ParlayFinance #SMB #SBA #Data #AI #Lending

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As 2026 begins, asset-based lenders are operating in an environment shaped by increased portfolio complexity, tighter credit scrutiny, and rising expectations around transparency and control. While the fundamentals of secured lending remain intact, how lenders assess risk, demonstrate compliance, and manage collateral continues to evolve. Three developments are particularly relevant this year. 🔹AI driven risk assessment 🔹Regulatory & compliance shifts 🔹Secured lending models continuing to broaden 🔔 Stay tuned! We will be breaking down each of these three critical developments in detail over the next week. #AssetBasedLending #CommercialFinance #RiskManagement #LendingTrends #2026Outlook

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CDFIs (Community Development Financial Institutions) quietly power local economies — especially where traditional banks won’t. Local First Arizona recently joined national partners urging the U.S. Treasury to fully staff and support the CDFI Fund. Why? Because these mission-driven lenders are often the difference between a small business launching and growing… or closing its doors. Our new blog looks at what happens when access to capital works — and what’s at risk when it doesn’t — through the lens of rural healthcare, small business growth and Arizona communities. Featuring insights from @GrowthPartnersAZ, a longtime Local First partner. https://hubs.li/Q03-6NRz0

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Ag lending is evolving – are your systems keeping pace? From automation to digital platforms, the pressure is on for community banks to modernize. But transformation doesn’t have to mean losing control of borrower relationships. At Agri-Access, we help lenders serve their clients better – with capital access and behind-the-scenes support that expands capacity, not complexity. 🔗 Read the article: https://ow.ly/px0I50XBVcm #AgLending #CommunityBanking #FintechForAg #AgriAccessInsights

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🚨 Industry News + ACTIVATE Spotlight Big news in the private lending space! Einpresswire has released that La Mesa Fund Control & Escrow has selected Sekady as its technology partner to enhance and modernize fund control operations — a powerful move toward smarter, more efficient lending workflows. 👉 Read more about this press release here: https://shorturl.at/HoMCg   We’re double-excited because both of these standout companies will be with us at ACTIVATE Las Vegas. You’ll hear directly from Thayne Boren of Sekady and Marcus Carter of La Mesa Fund Control & Escrow, sharing insights on innovation, operations, and where fund control technology is headed next.   Catch them live at ACTIVATE Las Vegas This is exactly the kind of forward-thinking partnership and leadership ACTIVATE is built to showcase. 👉 Learn more & secure your spot: https://lnkd.in/eZzP64CH   #ACTIVATELasVegas #GeraciEvents #PrivateLending #FundControl #Fintech #LendingTechnology #IndustryNews #Partnerships #DealMakers Anthony Geraci, Jasmine Daya, Lesley Boyd, Brandwyn Boyle, Bibiana Hoyos Villamizar

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Eltropy Launches Unified, Self-Serve Payment System for Credit Unions and Community Banks “Community financial institutions are drowning in vendor relationships and transaction fees,” said Ashish Garg, Co-Founder and CEO of Eltropy. “Our customers were asking for a solution that could handle payments across collections, lending, and account servicing without adding another vendor to their existing stack. As part of the Unified Conversations Platform, Eltropy Payments delivers a fully integrated approach that reduces costs and improves the digital payment experience for consumers.” https://lnkd.in/eBicMw5x Steve Jensen Michael Pupil Laura Chambers Arun Rao Nandita Verma Abhishek Tiwari #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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🤨 Aren’t transitional moments fun? It’s that space between the always-and-forever need for process discipline and SBA compliance … and the ways in which new rules and new opportunities are pushing SBA Lenders to think a little differently about production and risk. 👉 Read our latest newsletter for SBA updates + more! https://conta.cc/4cGd1ei #SBA #LenderTips #SBALoans #SBAUpdates

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