If you are shopping an SBA 7(a) or conventional commercial loan in Texas, 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 Texas-headquartered banks doing the most commercial lending right now, using public Q1 2026 FFIEC call-report data. It is the open-book version of what the paid report does with far more inputs.
Texas headquarters more commercial banks than any other state, a deep and genuinely competitive field where a borrower has real options worth ranking.
The 15 most active commercial lenders in Texas
Ranked by commercial and industrial (C&I) loans outstanding, Q1 2026. Bank names link to the live BankingLens scorecard.
| # | Bank | City | Assets | C&I share | ROA | Fit notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas Capital Bank | Dallas | $33.2B | 35.0% | 0.96% | Large multi-state regional, heavy C&I concentration. |
| 2 | Frost Bank | San Antonio | $52.8B | 25.6% | 1.31% | Coast-to-coast balance sheet, an active C&I book. CRE-heavy book. |
| 3 | Prosperity Bank | El Campo | $43.6B | 11.4% | 1.18% | Large multi-state regional, a modest C&I share. |
| 4 | Tbk Bank, SSB | Dallas | $6.9B | 53.5% | 0.52% | Regional commercial bank, heavy C&I concentration. Built for commercial deals. |
| 5 | Sunflower Bank | Dallas | $8.6B | 38.0% | 1.11% | Mid-size regional, heavy C&I concentration. Built for commercial deals. |
| 6 | Amarillo National Bank | Amarillo | $10.2B | 37.4% | 1.74% | Large regional lender, heavy C&I concentration. Top-decile returns. |
| 7 | Woodforest National Bank | The Woodlands | $9.2B | 39.9% | 2.04% | Mid-size regional, heavy C&I concentration. Top-decile returns. |
| 8 | Third Coast Bank | Humble | $6.6B | 41.6% | 1.22% | Regional commercial bank, heavy C&I concentration. CRE-heavy book. |
| 9 | International Bank of Commerce | Laredo | $9.9B | 19.0% | 2.80% | Mid-size regional, a steady commercial book. Top-decile returns. |
| 10 | Stellar Bank | Houston | $10.9B | 17.2% | 1.17% | Large regional lender, a steady commercial book. CRE-heavy book. |
| 11 | First Financial Bank | Abilene | $15.3B | 13.2% | 1.77% | Large multi-state regional, a steady commercial book. Top-decile returns. |
| 12 | Vantage Bank Texas | San Antonio | $4.9B | 27.9% | 1.67% | Regional commercial bank, an active C&I book. Top-decile returns. |
| 13 | Plainscapital Bank | University Park | $12.4B | 11.4% | 1.06% | Large multi-state regional, a modest C&I share. CRE-heavy book. |
| 14 | Susser Bank | Dallas | $2.9B | 28.9% | 1.00% | Local commercial lender, an active C&I book. |
| 15 | Texas Exchange Bank | Crowley | $4.3B | 83.0% | 1.39% | Mid-size regional, heavy C&I concentration. Built for commercial deals. |
Assets and ratios are Q1 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 Texas-HQ lenders, Q1 2026. This is the single number our ranking leans on hardest.
How we ranked these
Three steps, all of them transparent. First, we took every bank headquartered in Texas. Second, 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 qualifying banks, 203 cleared that bar. Third, 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.
This is an honest, simplified proxy. It does not see a bank's actual SBA 7(a) origination volume (that lives in SBA FOIA data, not the call report), its appetite for your industry, or whether it funded forty SBA loans last quarter or zero. 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.
What Texas looks like for a borrower
Texas headquarters more commercial banks than any other state, a deep and genuinely competitive field where a borrower has real options worth ranking.
Across 352 Texas-headquartered banks sits $785.9B in total assets, anchored by Charles Schwab Bank, SSB in Westlake at $242.9B. Half the state's lenders hold more than 12.0% of their loans in C&I, half less; the ranking below pulls the most commercial-heavy to the top.
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: A downtown Texas commercial district by Lance Asper on Unsplash, used here as a regional editorial image for Texas.