Commercial Lending, Translated: A Video Series for Credit Union Leaders

By: Sara Kraft | Laurel Peak Consulting

If you lead a credit union but don’t work with commercial loans every day, you’ve probably nodded along while someone said “global cash flow” or “covenant compliance” and thought, I should understand this better.

That’s why I created the Commercial Lending Fundamentals series for FORUM52. The series is six videos, each under 15 minutes, covering the critical steps of commercial underwriting and risk management. Each one compares commercial lending to the consumer process you already know, and focuses on the “why” behind the differences and complexities.

Who it’s for:

• Senior leaders and boards: understand where commercial differs, why, and how to manage the risk.
• Branch leaders: support business members more confidently when they walk in.
• Project, IT, and systems partners: get context for working with commercial teams and systems.

Commercial lending isn’t consumer lending with bigger numbers. Commercial risk changes over time and requires much closer monitoring. Institutions that miss these differences can overlook key risks until it’s too late. The ideal commercial lending training program is to spend five years as a credit analyst, including an economic downturn. This series distills that path into lessons that fit a real schedule.

Check out the video series here:  https://forum52.com/media_center/folder/1931f1d1-29d0-44f6-b683-206a1c6e3ede