Orion First Financial, LLC announced CF Bankshares Inc. and its wholly owned banking subsidiary, CFBank, N.A., has selected Orion First, a full-service commercial loan and lease portfolio servicer, as its exclusive provider of primary management services for the bank’s equipment finance and leasing line of business.

The agreement between the companies supports CFBank’s recent expansion into commercial equipment finance and leasing, offering financing to businesses secured by new and used equipment.

As part of the agreement, Orion will provide CFBank with full portfolio management services including the booking of newly originated contracts; payment processing and all cashier services; reporting covering accounting, portfolio data, delinquencies, and custom reporting; fully staffed, white-labeled customer service support; and delinquency/default management.

CFBank’s focus in this arena will be middle-market and small-ticket equipment finance transactions, loans and portfolio purchases. It will originate transactions from third parties and bank customers before eventually expanding into vendor programs.

“Our decision to go with Orion was simple: They’re the best at what they do,” said John Catalano, CFBank’s new President of Equipment Finance. “We want to stay focused on origination and credit underwriting. For that, we need a trusted partner for portfolio servicing and that is what we have with the Orion team.”

“We are excited to support CFBank with their entry into the equipment finance space,” said Quentin Cote, Executive Vice President of Orion First. “This is a fantastic team doing great work that aligns with our values. They are actively committed to helping small businesses succeed. As more banks enter the equipment finance and small-ticket finance sectors, our industry as a whole benefits from their lending experience, their knowledge of commercial banking products, expanded customer bases and, ultimately, new ways to improve the experience of small business borrowers everywhere.”

Approximately $51.4 billion of new small-ticket (under $250,000) equipment loan and lease financing was originated in the United States in 2019, according to the Equipment Leasing & Finance Association in its 2020 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity, up from $47.5 billion in 2018. New business volume—which grew 10.5 percent in 2019—outpaced GDP growth (2.3 percent according to the U.S. Department of Commerce), with banks seeing the highest increase (12.8 percent) compared to independents (8.4 percent) and captives (6.9 percent).