Bank expands to service green industry

Bank of the West’s Agribusiness Banking Division is expanding its nursery/greenhouse/garden center specialty into a national business.

The bank has nearly $300 million in loan commitments to more than 50 clients in the horticulture industry and is looking to expand its services nationally to nursery and greenhouse growers.

Vice president Barry Sturdivant said the bank has found ways to work with the industry’s consolidation issues and the special issues created by some retailers’ pay-by-scan requirements. The bank also works with growers who support independent garden centers that “must constantly innovate to compete.”

Bank of the West is the third-largest commercial lender to agriculture in the country behind Wells Fargo and Bank of America. It has $3.5 billion in agricultural commitments and nearly 1,300 large production agriculture clients.

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For more: Bank of the West, (800) 488-2265; www.bankofthewest.com.