United StatesFinance and insurance2026 – ongoing

Bankwell Financial Group

AI-generated credit memos and embedded pre-approval in small-business and SBA loan origination

Bankwell cut small-business loan origination from 1-2 weeks to 1-2 days with AI-drafted credit memos

WorkingCompany's own claim

Problem

Originating small-business and SBA loans at Bankwell took one to two weeks. The bank wanted to lend faster to small businesses without a large increase in manual work.

Approach

Bankwell built pre-approval functions into its origination process and used AI to help generate credit memos. It worked with fintech startups, including the team behind the Casca small-business lending platform. The bank ran slow pilots first, which Ryan Hildebrand said built trust in the tools.

Results

1-2 daysorigination time, down from one to two weeks, as reported by American BankerCompany's own claim[1]

Takeaway

The time saving came from two changes made together: AI-drafted memos and pre-approval built into the workflow. The article does not split the gain between them.

Sources

#33 Bankwell Bank's Ryan Hildebrand is using AI to drastically cut origination time
American Banker1 Jun 2026News article

Source summaries

[1]American Banker1 Jun 2026

American Banker profiled Bankwell's Ryan Hildebrand in its list of the most innovative people in finance. The bank embedded pre-approval functions and used AI to help write credit memos. Origination time fell from one to two weeks to one to two days.

Full details are in the original sources.

Added 2 Nov 2026 · Updated 2 Nov 2026