If you are shopping an SBA 7(a) or conventional commercial loan in Delaware, the bank you call first matters more than most borrowers think. A lender that already writes a lot of commercial credit and sits in your state is structurally likelier to say yes than a national name passing through. This page ranks the Delaware-headquartered banks doing the most commercial lending right now, using public Q2 2026 FFIEC call-report data. It is the open-book version of what the paid report does with far more inputs.
Delaware's charter is famous for credit-card banks and holding companies, so the names that actually write local commercial loans are far fewer than the incorporation count suggests.
The 6 most active commercial lenders in Delaware
Ranked by commercial and industrial (C&I) loans outstanding, Q2 2026. Bank names link to the live BankingLens scorecard.
| # | Bank | City | Assets | C&I share | ROA | Fit notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PNC Bank | Wilmington | $609.8B | 31.5% | 1.34% | National-scale lender, heavy C&I concentration. Loan book up 13% YoY. Top sectors funded in DE: Construction (7 loans), Health Care (5 loans) |
| 2 | TD Bank | Wilmington | $342.8B | 14.2% | 0.83% | Coast-to-coast balance sheet, a steady commercial book. Top sectors funded in DE: Other Services (13 loans), Retail Trade (11 loans) |
| 3 | Santander Bank | Wilmington | $104.0B | 12.7% | 1.01% | National-scale lender, a steady commercial book. Loan book up 18% YoY. |
| 4 | Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB | Wilmington | $22.6B | 10.6% | 1.61% | Large regional lender, a modest C&I share. Return on assets above 1.5 percent. Top sectors funded in DE: Accommodation/Food Service (12 loans), Arts & Recreation (7 loans) |
| 5 | County Bank | Rehoboth Beach | $696M | 7.2% | 3.34% | Small community bank, a modest C&I share. Return on assets above 1.5 percent. Loan book up 11% YoY. |
| 6 | Artisans' Bank | Wilmington | $718M | 6.4% | 0.52% | Small local lender, a modest C&I share. CRE-heavy book. |
Assets and ratios are Q2 2026 FFIEC call-report figures. ROA is annualized return on assets. A bank's headquarters city is shown; many lend statewide and beyond.
C&I lending muscle, ranked
Commercial and industrial loans outstanding for the top 6 Delaware-HQ lenders, Q2 2026. This is the single number our ranking leans on hardest.
How we ranked these
Four steps, all of them transparent. First, we took every bank headquartered in Delaware. Second, a capacity floor: we dropped every Delaware-headquartered bank under $500M in total assets, because a smaller balance sheet rarely anchors a primary SBA 7(a) relationship. Third, an active-originator floor: we loosened the usual 10 percent C&I cutoff to 5 percent here, because Delaware has a shallow commercial-banking bench and a stricter filter would leave too short a list (a bank that is 90 percent home mortgages is not your SBA lender, regardless of size). Of the banks clearing both floors, 6 made the active list. Fourth, we ranked them by C&I loan dollars outstanding, which already blends balance-sheet size with how committed a bank is to commercial credit, and kept the top 6. Where the call report reports it, the fit notes also flag year-over-year loan-book growth as a rough read on whether a bank is leaning into lending or pulling back; the FFIEC filing does not break out SBA or C&I growth on its own, so treat that as directional, not precise.
Smaller banks may also fund your loan but rank below the active list.
The SBA section below ranks separately: it counts the SBA 7(a) and 504 loans each lender actually made in Delaware, from SBA's own loan data, whatever state the lender is based in.
This table is an honest, simplified proxy. The call report does not show a bank's SBA volume or its appetite for your industry; the SBA section shows volume, but not which lender fits your deal. The $49 Borrower Assist report folds all of that in and ranks against your specific deal, not just your state. That is the part worth paying for.
Most active SBA lenders in Delaware
The lenders that made the most SBA 7(a) and 504 loans to Delaware businesses, federal fiscal year 2023 through June 30, 2026, counted from SBA's own loan-level data. National SBA platforms appear next to Delaware's own banks because they lend here too.
260 SBA loans in Delaware, $29.3M in total. Most often: Construction, Accommodation/Food Service.
74 SBA loans in Delaware, $5.4M in total. Most often: Other Services, Retail Trade.
49 SBA loans in Delaware, $43.3M in total. Most often: Accommodation/Food Service, Arts & Recreation.
35 SBA loans in Delaware, $12.1M in total. Most often: Manufacturing, Other Services.
34 SBA loans in Delaware, $4.4M in total. Most often: Retail Trade, Professional Services.
27 SBA loans in Delaware, $5.6M in total. Most often: Construction, Health Care.
19 SBA loans in Delaware, $15.3M in total. Most often: Accommodation/Food Service, Manufacturing.
18 SBA loans in Delaware, $14.3M in total. Most often: Professional Services, Construction.
18 SBA loans in Delaware, $3.2M in total. Most often: Retail Trade, Professional Services.
17 SBA loans in Delaware, $5.3M in total. Most often: Professional Services, Other Services.
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration 7(a) and 504 loan data, refreshed monthly. Ranked by number of loans. Lenders that have since merged count toward the bank that acquired them.
What Delaware looks like for a borrower
Delaware's charter is famous for credit-card banks and holding companies, so the names that actually write local commercial loans are far fewer than the incorporation count suggests.
On the numbers: Delaware's 7 headquartered banks carry $1.08T in assets between them, the largest being PNC Bank of Wilmington at $609.8B. The median bank keeps 10.6% of its loan book in C&I credit, which is the pool the table below ranks.
None of that tells you which of these banks will fund your specific deal. A $400,000 restaurant acquisition and a $4M owner-occupied warehouse purchase have different optimal lender lists even in the same state, and the ranking above does not split by loan size, industry, or collateral. Treat it as your starting shortlist, not your final answer.
How to use this list
- Start with the bank near you that has the strongest commercial profile, not just the closest branch. A lender with a real C&I book understands your deal faster.
- Ask for the SBA or commercial lending group directly. The general line routes business deals slowly.
- Have a one-page summary ready: use of funds, cash flow, collateral, owner credit, timeline. Banks decide whether to engage in the first ninety seconds.
- Run two banks in parallel, not five. Two real conversations close a loan; five waste everyone's time.
Hero photo: The New York City skyline by Luca Bravo on Unsplash, used here as a regional editorial image for Delaware.