The Aggressive Growth of Continental Illinois

Continental Illinois had a history of conservative lending, however in the mid-1970's its managementbegan implementing a growth strategy focused on commercial lending, explicitly setting out to become one of the nation's largest commercial lenders. By the year 1981, Continental Illinois had turned out to be the largest C&I lender in the United States. Between 1976 and 1981 Continental Illinois' C&I lending skyrocketed from around $5 billion to more than $14 billion, a jump of 180 percent. Meanwhile, its totals assets rose from $21.5 billion to $45 billion, about 110 percent.