Cole Taylor Bank Launches Equipment Finance Division

CHICAGO, July 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Taylor Capital Group, Inc. (the "Company") (NASDAQ: TAYC) announced today that Cole Taylor Bank (the "Bank") has launched a new equipment finance division led by Edward A. Dahlka, Jr., a nationally recognized industry leader and former President of LaSalle National Leasing Corporation with more than 40 years of leasing and equipment finance experience.

Cole Taylor Equipment Finance is now the bank's third national line of business, along with Cole Taylor Mortgage and Cole Taylor Business Capital.  Initially joining Mr. Dahlka at Cole Taylor Equipment Finance are industry veterans Steven Williams, Peter J. Steger, Joseph A. Maddox, and John A. Hurt, all of who worked with Dahlka at LaSalle National Leasing.  The business offers a full range of equipment finance options and specializes in originating and syndicating commercial equipment leases for U.S. companies. The syndication function offers both buy and sell opportunities to the investor community.

"I am very pleased to welcome Ed and his team to Cole Taylor," said Mark A. Hoppe, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank. "I've known Ed for many years, and the highly-experienced team has an established network in the marketplace.  I'm confident they will build a successful and sustainable line of business for the bank. We expect that Cole Taylor Equipment Finance will become a strong source of balance sheet growth and fee revenue for the bank and further contribute to the diversification of our earnings."

Ed Dahlka, President of Cole Taylor Equipment Finance, added, "I'm delighted to have joined Cole Taylor Bank.  My team shares with Cole Taylor a dedication to customer service and a commitment to trust and transparency. Our team averages more than 25 years in the leasing business, and we're looking forward to bringing our experience and expertise to this outstanding organization. Our customers and market participants will see that the deals we structure will be exactly what we deliver."

Dahlka reports to Mark Hoppe and the business is based near Baltimore in Towson, Maryland.

About Taylor Capital Group, Inc.  (NASDAQ: TAYC)

Taylor Capital Group, Inc. is the $4.7 billion bank holding company of Cole Taylor Bank, a commercial bank headquartered in Chicago. Cole Taylor specializes in serving the banking needs of closely held businesses and the people who own and manage them. Through its divisions Cole Taylor Business Capital and Cole Taylor Mortgage, the Bank also provides asset based lending and residential mortgage loan products through a growing network of offices throughout the United States. Cole Taylor is a member of the FDIC and is an Equal Housing Lender. Visit www.coletaylor.com/equipment-finance.

Forward-looking statements: Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements reflect our current expectation about certain prospects and opportunities, and anticipated or expected events. We have tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words such as "may,"  "plan," "should," "will," "expect," "believe," "intend," "could" and "estimate" and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to us and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our performance and actual events in 2012 and beyond to differ materially from expectations expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements.  

SOURCE Taylor Capital Group, Inc.