WICHITA, Kan., (July 21, 2026)— The Wichita Business Journal Friday ranked Equity Bank as the fastest grower of commercial and industrial loans of all Wichita banks. The banks were ranked based off year-over-year change, with Equity growing $192.1 million from first quarter 2025 to first quarter 2026, a more than 25% increase.
Citing FDIC data, the WBJ reports Equity’s C&I lending portfolio at $958.24 million for Q1 2026, up from $766.15 million in Q1 of 2025. In addition to being the fastest growing, Equity now ranks second in overall C&I loan volume of Wichita banks.
In May, the WBJ named Equity the fastest growing bank in Wichita by deposits from fourth quarter 2024 to fourth quarter 2025.
As previously reported, in 2025, Equity completed two mergers, first with NBC Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, and then with Frontier Bank in Omaha, Nebraska, a deal that closed in early 2026. In all, the company great by 48% in asset size last year, according to the 2025 Annual Report.
Related: Equity CEO talks C&I loan patterns >
More on the WBJ’s methodology:
“Information on The List was obtained from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and could not be independently verified by the Wichita Business Journal. Rankings were determined by year-over-year dollar value change in commercial and industrial loan portfolios in the period analyzed. In case of ties, banks are listed alphabetically.
To qualify for this List, banks are required to have a commercial and industrial lending balance at the end of the first quarter in 2026. Only institutions headquartered in the Wichita area are included. The Wichita area is defined as Sedgwick, Sumner, Harvey and Butler counties in Kansas.”
The WBJ also recently covered Equity’s second quarter 2026 earnings release:
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