Bankwell Financial Group is a community bank holding company headquartered in New Canaan, Connecticut, operating through its subsidiary, Bankwell Bank. Bankwell focuses exclusively on commercial banking, serving small to mid-sized businesses, nonprofits, and high-net-worth individuals primarily across Fairfield County and greater Connecticut, with a new branch in Brooklyn opening in early 2026. Bankwell's core business is commercial lending: roughly 68% of the loan book is commercial real estate, with the remainder split between commercial business loans and smaller categories like construction and consumer. Bankwell deliberately exited residential mortgage origination in 2017 to focus entirely on commercial clients. Like most community banks, Bankwell earns the majority of its revenue as net interest income — the spread between loan yields and deposit costs. Key profitability drivers include net interest margin, loan volume, and credit quality, with a CRE-heavy portfolio that is sensitive to credit cycles. Bankwell funds its loan book through relationship deposits, brokered CDs, and FHLB advances, and has been actively replacing expensive brokered deposits with lower-cost core deposits. Beyond spread income, Bankwell is building an SBA lending division, which originates SBA-guaranteed loans and sells the guaranteed portions into the secondary market for fee income — a growing contributor to non-interest income. Growth initiatives include recruiting private client banking teams from larger institutions, expanding SBA originations, shifting the loan mix toward floating-rate and C&I loans, and selectively pursuing M&A of smaller institutions facing credit or regulatory challenges.