Posted on April 19, 2021 by Brett
Hopeful signs for fintech lending, banking, equipment finance and merchant cash advance in the pandemic economic recovery
Business lenders and equipment lessors can expect debt to rise some as deferred payments granted during the pandemic finally come due. But the increase in defaults should be manageable, using the right charge-off strategies. On the personal lending side, deferrals of payments for mortgages, student loans and other obligations are of greater concern. Still, none of this should stall the pandemic economic recovery – a recovery that is, by many accounts, already underway.
There is optimism this spring as more Americans are vaccinated against Covid-19. There are positive economic indicators and predictions from financial leaders, too.
We are seeing this in commercial finance with rising originations. In fact, small business lending has reached a pandemic-era high, according to the Equifax Small Business Lending Index. The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association reports healthy growth in new volume and record-level business confidence. And its foundation predicts that equipment and software investments will expand by 11.2% in 2021.
In the fintech lending industry, originations that plummeted in the first three quarters of 2020 began to ascend in the fourth and “could jump by 20% or more over the next few years,” writes Steve Cocheo in The Financial Brand, citing S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
This news is quite encouraging. In sharing it, though, I don’t want to imply that the pandemic is history. Some of us lost loved ones to Covid-19. Some are dealing with it ourselves. New cases are reported daily, variants of the virus are a concern, and medical professionals are still under strain. Remote and hybrid learning are still disrupting students, families, and educators. Some businesses continue to suffer, and many Americans are out of work.
Yet there are hopeful signs to celebrate. In 1942, as Britain was in the midst of a world war, Winston Churchill famously said, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
I think we are much closer than that to enjoying life beyond the pandemic. Perhaps for us, it is indeed the beginning of the end.
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Brett Boehm is CEO for TBF Financial. He can be reached at bboehm@tbfgroup.com, phone 847-267-0660 or via LinkedIn. |
