FNB, Huntington, PNC see lease financing growth

First National Bank, Huntington Bank and PNC Bank grew their equipment lease financing portfolios during the third quarter. 

FNB equipment finance rises 21%YoY 

First National Bank’s equipment finance loans rose 21% year over year amid increased demand tied to fiscal policy, which led to a 3% annual increase in the company’s overall loan portfolio, Vincent Delie, chairman, president and chief executive, said during the Pittsburgh-based company’s Oct. 17 earnings call. 

The bank had strong loan portfolio performance and expects further growth as fiscal policies boost equipment finance demand, Chief Credit Officer Gary Guerrieri said during the call. 

“As uncertainty eases, we expect broad-based growth in a potentially more robust and business-friendly environment,” he said. “Our credit philosophy continues to be focused on core C&I [commercial and industrial] lending activity, which has and will continue to drive our growth into the future.” 

FNB’s C&I loans and leases landed at $7.6 billion in Q3, up 0.4% quarter over quarter and 0.6% YoY, according to the Oct. 17 earnings release. The company’s commercial leases, part of its C&I portfolio, totaled $829 million, up 7.1% QoQ and 16.9% YoY. 

Huntington lease financing grows 

Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington Bank’s lease financing portfolio finished at $5.5 billion in Q3, down less than 0.1% QoQ but up 3.2% YoY, according to the bank’s Oct.17 earnings supplement. Huntington’s commercial and institutional loan outstandings landed at $63 billion in Q3, up 3.7% QoQ and 17.5% YoY.  

Meanwhile, the bank reported lease financing net charge-offs of 0.04%, compared with net charge-offs of 0.12% in Q2 and net recoveries of 0.18% in Q3 2024. The bank’s allowance for credit losses on lease financing totaled $65 million, up 3.2% QoQ and 27.5% YoY.  

The company expects continued momentum in the fourth quarter, projecting about 1.5% sequential loan growth, in part due to the expected solid performance across its commercial specialty business, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Executive Vice President Zachary Wasserman said during the company’s Oct. 17 earnings call. 

“We would always expect the fourth quarter to be a quite good equipment and asset finance production quarter just given the seasonality of that, and a number of other areas continue to perform well,” he said. “As I look out into next year, into ’26, we’re clearly not giving formal guidance at this moment, but our working assumption is somewhere in the mid- to high single digits for year-over-year loan growth in 2026 as well.” 

PNC lease financing up 5%  

Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services’ equipment lease financing portfolio reached $6.9 billion in Q3, down 4.3% QoQ but up 2.6% YoY, according to its Oct. 15 earnings supplement. The company’s commercial and industrial portfolio totaled $189 billion, up 2.3% QoQ and 6.8% YoY. 

Meanwhile, PNC had net recoveries of $1 million in Q3, compared with net charge-offs of $5 million in Q2 and Q3 2024, while commercial and industrial portfolio charge-offs increased 46.3% QoQ but decreased 10.4% YoY to $60 million, according to the earnings supplement. Nonperforming equipment finance assets remained flat QoQ despite a 157.1% YoY increase to $36 million to end Q3. 

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