Cross River Bank, a provider of banking services for financial technology companies, has launched several key initiatives to expand its Capital Markets portfolio and professional team.

“These changes speak not only to our dedication to providing best of breed products and services, but also to ensuring we are constantly innovating and working on new ways to add value to our business and partners,” said Gilles Gade, founder, president, and CEO of Cross River.

Cross River added key new hires to its Capital Markets team from online lending and business banking company, Laurel Road, which was successfully acquired by KeyBank in April 2019. These include team leader Noah Cooper, who becomes Cross River’s SVP, head of Capital Markets, as well as Rahul Jha, Joshua Karlgaard and Ryan Callahan. They will be focused on managing the Bank’s balance sheet and secondary market activities including securitization and loan pool sales.

In addition, Cross River has closed a warehouse facility with Idea Financial, a Miami-based lender that provides access to affordable and flexible capital to growing small businesses across the country. Under the terms of the agreement, Cross River will provide a warehouse facility up to $70 million, which will enable Idea Financial to deliver greater and more efficient access to credit for small business customers nationwide.

The facility is originated by Cross River’s Strategic Financing Solutions Group, a specialized team focused on providing warehouse lending, forward flow and direct lending services to help empower the growth of early-stage fintechs.

“This financing will allow Idea Financial to scale and marks the beginning of a very important strategic relationship between Cross River and Idea Financial,” said Justin Leto, co-founder and CEO of Idea Financial.

Founded in 2008, Cross River is a New Jersey state-chartered FDIC insured bank.