If you are shopping an SBA 7(a) or conventional commercial loan in Virginia, 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 Virginia-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.
Virginia's commercial banks straddle the federal-contracting north and a rural south, two economies that ask very different things of a lender.
The 15 most active commercial lenders in Virginia
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 | HSBC Bank USA | Tysons | $167.7B | 36.0% | 0.89% | National-scale lender, heavy C&I concentration. Built for commercial deals. |
| 2 | Atlantic Union Bank | Richmond | $37.2B | 19.3% | 1.44% | Large regional lender, a steady commercial book. CRE-heavy book. |
| 3 | Townebank | Portsmouth | $22.4B | 10.8% | 0.78% | Large multi-state regional, a modest C&I share. CRE-heavy book. |
| 4 | Primis Bank | Tappahannock | $4.2B | 16.4% | 0.95% | Regional commercial bank, a steady commercial book. |
| 5 | Fvcbank | Fairfax | $2.3B | 23.4% | 1.22% | Community bank, an active C&I book. CRE-heavy book. |
| 6 | Virginia National Bank | Charlottesville | $1.6B | 20.9% | 1.40% | Local commercial lender, an active C&I book. CRE-heavy book. |
| 7 | Blue Ridge Bank | Martinsville | $2.4B | 13.8% | 0.19% | Community bank, a steady commercial book. CRE-heavy book. |
| 8 | Old Dominion National Bank | North Garden | $1.6B | 17.5% | 1.07% | Local commercial lender, a steady commercial book. CRE-heavy book. |
| 9 | Chesapeake Bank | Kilmarnock | $1.7B | 19.8% | 1.49% | Community bank, a steady commercial book. CRE-heavy book. |
| 10 | Bank of Clarke | Berryville | $1.8B | 13.8% | 0.88% | Local commercial lender, a steady commercial book. CRE-heavy book. |
| 11 | Freedom Bank of Virginia, the | Fairfax | $1.1B | 21.9% | 0.60% | Community bank, an active C&I book. CRE-heavy book. |
| 12 | Trustar Bank | Great Falls | $1.2B | 13.6% | 0.61% | Local commercial lender, a steady commercial book. CRE-heavy book. |
| 13 | First National Bank | Altavista | $1.1B | 12.7% | 1.15% | Community bank, a steady commercial book. |
| 14 | Trupoint Bank | Grundy | $703M | 17.3% | 1.00% | Small local lender, a steady commercial book. |
| 15 | Locus Bank, Inc. | Richmond | $345M | 27.7% | 1.25% | Small community bank, an active C&I book. CRE-heavy book. |
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 Virginia-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 Virginia. 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, 19 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 Virginia looks like for a borrower
Virginia's commercial banks straddle the federal-contracting north and a rural south, two economies that ask very different things of a lender.
The state's banking base totals $1.00T in assets across 57 charters, topped by Capital One (Mc Lean) at $672.0B. Commercial appetite varies widely; the median Virginia bank runs a 7.8% C&I share, and HSBC Bank USA leads on raw C&I dollars ($20.0B).
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: Downtown Atlanta by Joey Kyber on Unsplash, used here as a regional editorial image for Virginia.