Spearheading Business Development Initiatives

Eric Chico, Senior Vice President at East West Bank

Eric Chico, Senior Vice President at East West Bank

Eric Chico is a Senior Vice President of technology finance, spearheading business development initiatives for East West Bank’s technology lending practice. Mr. Chico has over 12 years of commercial lending experience where he has held various roles in the areas of originations, underwriting, and portfolio management of senior secured credit facilities for middle market technology and healthcare organizations in the U.S. Prior to joining East West Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Southern California, Mr. Chico spent five years at Well Fargo Capital Finance, executing senior secured asset-based, real estate, and cash flow financings for middle market healthcare companies across the U.S. Prior to Wells Fargo, Mr. Chico spent five years at GE Capital Healthcare Financial Services, structuring and underwriting senior secured cash flow and venture-backed credit facilities for middle market healthcare and healthcare IT organizations in the U.S.

Mr. Chico holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Villanova University and an M.B.A. from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University.

What are some of your key roles and responsibilities that you have on a daily basis?

I am a Senior Vice President of technology finance, spearheading business development initiatives for our technology lending practice. We provide senior debt to middle market, B2B software companies generating recurring revenue between $10 million and $100 million. Our credit facilities consist of ARR term loans, cash flow term loans, and Annual Recurring Revenue and Monthly Recurring Revenue revolving lines of credit used for M&A, private equity buyouts and working capital. East West Bank’s loan commitments range from between $10 million and $30 million. Over the last two years, our team has closed 18 transactions in aggregate of $340 million.

“Stick to your core principles and strategies in this volatile market we’re all operating in.”

On a daily basis, I work with CEOs, CFOs and private equity investors seeking credit facilities to provide a credit structure that meets their needs. I review their business plans and analyze their financial statements to arrive at an acceptable amount of debt for the company to help them grow their business, while assuming an acceptable amount of risk for the bank.

Financial technology is improving and automating the process and services within organizations. However, these challenges push our imagination in new ways and encourage unparalleled growth, but there’s room for improvement. Your views on this.

Yes, there have been significant advances in automation in various industries. And one of the main drivers of that is speed. Companies want to understand their customers as quickly as possible and consumers want products, services, and content delivered yesterday. As a result, we’ve seen our customers go to market with software that integrates AI and Machine Learning technology into their platforms to automate workflows or implement no-code or low-code technology to provide faster automation and throughput. Users in both cases have benefited by improving the speed at which it serves its customers. Automated workflows provide faster and more timely customer service and low-code, and no-code can test software faster and cheaper than ever before.

I think one of the biggest challenges facing tech firms continues to be cyber security. While technology continues to evolve, it creates new opportunities for hackers. These platforms have been built for speed, accuracy and throughput, and each iteration gets faster. While firms have done everything they can to build in as much security into their platforms as possible, they're being tasked with staying ahead of hackers and securing personally identifiable information. No matter how advanced technology becomes, this will always be a focal point for software companies.

Digital innovations and trends in financial technology are revolutionizing how people, financial organizations, and banks manage their money. In the last five years, how have modern advances drastically changed how people engage with their finances?

Two of the biggest trends in the last five years have been the emergence of peer-to-peer payment apps, such as Zelle and Venmo, and the utilization of digital wallets. The number of consumers using digital wallets in retail stores, restaurants and even taxis continues to increase each year. One of the main drivers of this trend was Covid. While some apps, such as PayPal, have been involved in this for over a decade, utilization of P2P apps grew during the pandemic due to the touchless environment we were operating, and it hasn’t gone away. As a result, more and more businesses started accepting PayPal, Venmo, and Zelle as payment, even some of the B2B software companies that are our clients at EWB.

What would be your piece of advice for your fellow peers and leaders?

Stick to your core principles and strategies in this volatile market we’re all operating in. Yes, the market is up 14% this year, but high interest rates and high inflation continue to squeeze margins and impact cash flow. This is a cycle, and it will not last forever. Stick to doing the things that have made you successful thus far. At East West Bank, we follow that principle. We focus on providing financing between $10 million and $30 million, whether we’re in a recession or a bull market. As a result, East West Bank has consistently been a top performing bank. We earned the #1 spot in S&P Global Market Intelligence’s 2022 Ranking of U.S. Public Banks by Financial Performance, and we topped Bank Director’s 2023 Best U.S. Banks report for 2023($50 billion and above asset category) as well. Stick to what you do best and don’t compromise your company’s principles today. You’ll be glad you did when some of these pressures recede.