Byline Bancorp, Inc.
Byline Bancorp, Inc. (BY)
Overview
Byline Bancorp, Inc. is a Chicago-based bank holding company and the parent of Byline Bank, a full-service commercial bank serving small and medium-sized businesses, commercial real estate investors, financial sponsors, and consumers primarily in the Chicago metropolitan area and southern Wisconsin. As of December 31, 2025, Byline reported consolidated total assets of $9.7 billion, total gross loans and leases of $7.5 billion, and total deposits of $7.6 billion, operating a 44-branch network. The company traces its modern form to a 2013 recapitalization, since which it has completed six bank acquisitions — most recently First Security Bancorp, Inc. in April 2025 — while consolidating its branch footprint from 88 locations down to 44 for efficiency. As of year-end 2025 Byline employed 1,027 people (1,018 full-time, nine part-time) across Chicagoland and greater Milwaukee.
What They Do & How They Make Money
Byline generates most of its revenue as net interest income — the spread between interest earned on loans, leases, and securities and interest paid on deposits and borrowings — supplemented by fee income from SBA/USDA government-guaranteed lending, equipment leasing, and wealth management. Commercial deposits (43.0% of total deposits, 85.1% of non-interest-bearing deposits) and core deposits (87.0% of total deposits, excluding large time deposits) give the bank a relatively low-cost funding base, with an average cost of deposits of 2.17% in 2025. On the asset side, Byline lends across commercial & industrial, commercial real estate, sponsor finance (senior secured loans to private-equity-backed companies), and government-guaranteed small business loans, and also originates equipment leases through its Byline Financial Group subsidiary. Growth has come both organically and through a disciplined string of bank and specialty-lender acquisitions that add scale, deposits, and niche lending capabilities.
Business Segments
Byline organizes its business into five primary lines:
- Commercial Banking — C&I lending ($3.3 billion portfolio) to businesses generally with up to $100 million in annual revenue, commercial real estate financing ($1.4 billion outstanding), sponsor finance ($805.9 million) providing senior secured credit to private-equity-backed borrowers, and loan syndications ($183.8 million).
- Community Banking — Retail deposit gathering and consumer banking products/digital channels, providing the low-cost funding base that supports the loan portfolio.
- Small Business Capital — U.S. government-guaranteed lending (SBA 7(a)/USDA); Byline ranked as the tenth most active SBA 7(a) originator in the country for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025.
- Equipment Leasing — Byline Financial Group originates and services equipment leases, with $752.3 million in outstanding leases and an average origination size of roughly $84,000.
- Wealth Management — Trust and investment management services, with $823.2 million in assets under administration.
Competitors
Byline competes with a mix of larger regional banks, other Chicago-area community banks, national banks, and non-bank/fintech lenders:
- Chicago-area community and regional banks: Wintrust Financial, First Busey Corporation, Midland States Bancorp, CIBC Bank USA, and Old Second Bancorp.
- National banks: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, which compete for commercial and consumer relationships in the Chicago metro area with greater scale and lower funding costs.
- SBA/government-guaranteed lending: Specialty non-bank SBA lenders such as Live Oak Bancshares and Celtic Bank, which compete nationally for the same government-guaranteed loan volume.
- Digital/fintech competitors: Online banks and fintech lenders competing for deposits and small-business credit with lower overhead and faster underwriting.
Competitive Position
Byline's principal strengths are its top-ten national ranking in SBA 7(a) originations, a diversified niche-lending mix (sponsor finance and equipment leasing layered on top of traditional community banking) that broadens fee income beyond spread lending, and a demonstrated ability to grow through disciplined bank M&A — six acquisitions since 2013, integrated while shrinking the branch network for efficiency, most recently First Security Bancorp in April 2025. This has taken the company from a post-recapitalization community bank to a $9.7 billion-asset regional institution. Key risks include net interest margin sensitivity to interest-rate cycles and deposit competition, credit concentration in commercial real estate and sponsor finance (leveraged lending to private-equity-backed borrowers, which can be more cyclical), competitive pressure from larger regional and national banks with lower costs of capital and broader branch/digital footprints, integration risk inherent in a continued roll-up acquisition strategy, and encroachment from specialty non-bank lenders in the SBA and equipment finance niches where Byline has built differentiation. Sustaining above-peer growth will likely continue to depend on M&A execution and defending its SBA/sponsor-finance niches against both larger banks and nimble non-bank competitors.