Valley National Bancorp, a community bank in the Northeast, continued to contract its auto finance business last quarter.
From Valley National’s first-quarter earnings release:
Our automobile loan portfolio has declined for three consecutive quarters mainly due to low consumer demand for such products, as well as Valley’s move to strengthen its already conservative auto loan underwriting standards in light of the current economic conditions. …
During the first quarter of 2009 we originated over $300 million in new loans despite the decline in our overall loan portfolio mainly caused by low consumer demand for auto loans, our sale of most residential loan originations due to the low interest environment, and seasonal declines in our New York commercial customer line usage.
Valley [Ticker: VLY] operates about 200 branches through the northern and central New Jersey, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.
