Investors Bank announced that it is launching an asset-based lending group that will be led by David Viggiano, who will serve as group head of Asset-Based Lending, and Joseph DeVito, who was named senior vice president and director of Business Development.

In announcing the formation of the new group, Investors Bank president and CEO, Kevin Cummings said, “The addition of asset-based financing continues to broaden Investors’ banking capabilities for the region’s businesses, and is another step in our transformation into a full-service commercial bank. Our new ABL group will enable Investors to provide a financing tool which is critical to both existing customers of the bank and a broad range of new prospects.”

Viggiano, who has 30 years of experience in corporate lending, comes to Investors from GE Capital, where he worked for 17 years and held sales and management positions in both asset-based lending and leasing. When he left GE Capital, he was a senior vice president managing an asset-based lending and leasing group that served middle-market companies. Before joining GE, he held senior executive positions in corporate banking at three different financial institutions.

DeVito has 28 years of experience in asset-based lending and commercial finance. For the past four years, he was a director of Business Development in Sterling National Bank’s group doing asset-based lending to middle-market companies. Prior to that, he was a senior vice president at Wells Fargo, where he worked for 11 years in the asset-based lending sector.

In addition, the group hired two industry professionals in risk management and sales. Joseph R. Costanza will head risk management for the group. He most recently was SVP and manager of the ABL business at Sterling Bank. Prior to Sterling, he held various positions of increasing responsibility in the ABL businesses at LaSalle and Mellon Business Credit. Peter Provenzale will serve as a senior business development officer based in Newark, NJ. He most recently served in senior sales roles at Wells Fargo and Fleet Capital after a successful, long tenure at CIT where he served in a variety of sales and risk management roles.

Investors’ ABL team will provide revolving lines of credit, term loans and equipment financing primarily to middle market companies with annual revenues of less than $100 million.