If you are shopping an SBA 7(a) or conventional commercial loan in Ohio, 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 Ohio-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.
Ohio carries a heavyweight roster of regional banks, a legacy of an industrial economy that always needed serious commercial credit close to home.
The 15 most active commercial lenders in Ohio
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 | JPMorgan Chase | Columbus | $4.09T | 15.5% | 1.60% | National-scale lender, a steady commercial book. Return on assets above 1.5 percent. Loan book up 9% YoY. Top sectors funded in OH: Construction (43 loans), Health Care (17 loans) |
| 2 | U.S. Bank | Cincinnati | $705.6B | 22.2% | 1.22% | Coast-to-coast balance sheet, an active C&I book. Loan book up 8% YoY. Top sectors funded in OH: Construction (139 loans), Other Services (66 loans) |
| 3 | Fifth Third Bank | Cincinnati | $299.2B | 39.2% | 1.02% | National-scale lender, heavy C&I concentration. Built for commercial deals. Loan book up 46% YoY. Top sectors funded in OH: Retail Trade (19 loans), Manufacturing (18 loans) |
| 4 | Huntington National Bank | Columbus | $283.1B | 28.4% | 1.13% | Coast-to-coast balance sheet, an active C&I book. Loan book up 41% YoY. Top sectors funded in OH: Construction (1239 loans), Transportation & Warehousing (946 loans) |
| 5 | KeyBank | Cleveland | $188.6B | 33.4% | 1.28% | National-scale lender, heavy C&I concentration. Top sectors funded in OH: Accommodation/Food Service (75 loans), Retail Trade (65 loans) |
| 6 | First Financial Bank | Cincinnati | $22.4B | 30.6% | 1.58% | Large regional lender, heavy C&I concentration. Return on assets above 1.5 percent. Loan book up 17% YoY. |
| 7 | Peoples Bank | Marietta | $9.5B | 28.0% | 1.31% | Mid-size regional, an active C&I book. |
| 8 | National Cooperative Bank | Hillsboro | $4.3B | 28.0% | 1.36% | Regional commercial bank, an active C&I book. Loan book up 8% YoY. |
| 9 | The Farmers National Bank of Canfield | Canfield | $7.2B | 11.3% | 1.36% | Mid-size regional, a modest C&I share. Loan book up 45% YoY. |
| 10 | Waterford Bank | Toledo | $1.8B | 33.3% | 1.28% | Local commercial lender, heavy C&I concentration. CRE-heavy book. |
| 11 | Cfbank | Columbus | $2.2B | 20.8% | 1.20% | Community bank, an active C&I book. CRE-heavy book. |
| 12 | The Farmers & Merchants State Bank | Archbold | $3.5B | 12.5% | 1.29% | Regional commercial bank, a steady commercial book. CRE-heavy book. |
| 13 | Signature Bank | Toledo | $1.3B | 27.1% | 1.56% | Community bank, an active C&I book. Return on assets above 1.5 percent. |
| 14 | United Midwest Savings Bank | De Graff | $523M | 46.5% | 0.86% | Small local lender, heavy C&I concentration. Built for commercial deals. Loan book up 9% YoY. |
| 15 | The Commercial and Savings Bank of Millersburg, Ohio | Millersburg | $1.3B | 15.7% | 1.45% | Community bank, a steady commercial book. CRE-heavy book. Loan book up 10% YoY. |
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 10 Ohio-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 Ohio. Second, a capacity floor: we dropped every Ohio-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 kept only banks whose commercial and industrial (C&I) loans are at least 10 percent of the loan book (a bank that is 90 percent home mortgages is not your SBA lender, regardless of size). Of the banks clearing both floors, 21 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 15. 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 Ohio, 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 Ohio
The lenders that made the most SBA 7(a) and 504 loans to Ohio businesses, federal fiscal year 2023 through June 30, 2026, counted from SBA's own loan-level data. National SBA platforms appear next to Ohio's own banks because they lend here too.
6,393 SBA loans in Ohio, $1.1B in total. Most often: Construction, Transportation & Warehousing.
474 SBA loans in Ohio, $114.8M in total. Most often: Construction, Other Services.
437 SBA loans in Ohio, $179.6M in total. Most often: Accommodation/Food Service, Retail Trade.
235 SBA loans in Ohio, $57.4M in total. Most often: Accommodation/Food Service, Transportation & Warehousing.
196 SBA loans in Ohio, $148.1M in total. Most often: Manufacturing, Accommodation/Food Service.
170 SBA loans in Ohio, $70.8M in total. Most often: Health Care, Retail Trade.
169 SBA loans in Ohio, $205.6M in total. Most often: Health Care, Professional Services.
160 SBA loans in Ohio, $54.2M in total. Most often: Construction, Other Services.
152 SBA loans in Ohio, $23.2M in total. Most often: Construction, Health Care.
150 SBA loans in Ohio, $56.4M in total. Most often: Other Services, Construction.
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 Ohio looks like for a borrower
Ohio carries a heavyweight roster of regional banks, a legacy of an industrial economy that always needed serious commercial credit close to home.
On the numbers: Ohio's 145 headquartered banks carry $5.70T in assets between them, the largest being JPMorgan Chase of Columbus at $4.09T. The median bank keeps 8.0% 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: American farmland by benjamin lehman on Unsplash, used here as a regional editorial image for Ohio.