BHI, a full-service commercial bank, announced the appointment of Oleg Kochanov as Senior Vice President, Head of Credit Underwriting.  Kochanov joins BHI to lead the bank’s new independent underwriting team.  He brings to BHI more than 20 years of experience in loan underwriting, structuring, and portfolio and client relationship management.
 
BHI has established the independent underwriting team to support the bank’s continued growth, provide an objective approach to underwriting, and ensure a unified credit approach.  Composed of experts in specific industry verticals, the new team will streamline the approval and onboarding process, and serve as a bridge between the bank’s sales team and its credit department.
 
“Establishing this new independent underwriting team is essential to our strategy as we continue our expansion to new markets and to serve new verticals.  Oleg is a highly experienced banker who comes to us with a depth of knowledge and expertise that will be invaluable to our growth initiatives.  We welcome him to BHI,” said Gabriel Hamani, BHI Chief Executive Officer.
 
“I am very pleased to join BHI to lead this exceptional team of underwriting professionals.  BHI is an innovative organization dedicated to client service.  I look forward to working with our team to enhance the efficiency of our underwriting process and serve our clients even better,” Kochanov said.
 
Previously, Kochanov served with BankUnited, where his most recent position was Senior Vice President and commercial banking portfolio team leader.  He also held various executive positions in commercial and credit products underwriting and portfolio management with Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase.
 
Kochanov earned a BA in business administration from Hofstra University.