Wells Fargo to expand New York area mid-market lending business

Wells Fargo is looking to expand into mid-market commercial real estate lending opportunities in New York City and its greater metropolitan area.

The San Francisco-based bank launched an emerging middle market segment within its New York commercial banking team on December 15. The new unit will focus on supplying banking services to companies with revenues ranging between $10 million and $75 million.

The team will be helmed by Alicia Iskhakova in New York City and John DeSclafani in New Jersey. Among its offering suite, the emerging middle market team will feature services geared toward investor real estate, including multifamily and commercial real estate financing.

The move for Wells Fargo comes after what has been a quieter second half of the year as many banks – including Wells itself – dialed back lending activity in response to sharp interest rate increases kicked off by the US Federal Reserve earlier this year.

Iskhakova joined Wells following an 18-year tenure at JPMorgan where she worked across retail, business banking and commercial real estate lines. She will report to Michael Keenan, New York market executive, and be responsible for building out the new emerging middle market team at the bank’s 42nd Street offices. Iskhakova most recently built a nationwide treasury platform tailored to real estate investors at JPMorgan.

DeSclafani has worked at Wells for the last seven years and worked across the commercial banking team. Based in Paramus, he will report to Peter Dontas, New Jersey market executive, and will be focused on building a team of commercial relationship managers focused on the emerging middle market segment across the state, with offices in Marlton, Iselin, Red Bank and Summit.