Insider Loans Surged Ahead of Turmoil at US Regional Banks

Not long before the Federal Reserve began lifting interest rates to tamp down inflation, regional banks across the US reported a surge in lending to a group of well-connected people: their own directors, officers and major shareholders.

The trend continued through all of last year, reaching almost $10 billion by the end of 2022, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of data submitted to federal regulators. That was 12% more than a year earlier and represented the largest annual jump in lending to insiders, along with their related interests, in at least a decade.