Sterling National Bank announced the formation of a syndication banking team and hired Jim Gelwicks and Yan Cheng to lead the unit.

Gelwicks was hired as managing director and Cheng was brought in as a senior vice president. The team will focus on arranging and syndicating bank loans for commercial banking and specialty lending clients in its targeted markets.

“We’re excited to continue building our syndication competency led by two seasoned professionals who have decades of success leading sell-side syndication transactions,” said Thomas Geisel, Sterling’s president of Specialty Finance. “This capability allows us to maintain the lead relationship position with our clients as they grow, while still managing our overall portfolio and risk.”

Prior to joining Sterling, Gelwicks was an executive with Healthcare Finance Group, most recently serving as head of Capital Markets. He previously co-headed the syndication efforts for the structured finance group at Daiwa Securities America and has also held key syndication positions at Bank of America Capital & Leasing and Prudential Capital.

Cheng also joins Sterling from Healthcare Finance Group where he was senior vice president of Capital Markets. He earlier served in leadership roles at Daiwa Securities America and Barclays Capital.

“The addition of a Syndication Banking team underscores Sterling’s strategic growth and our commitment to providing our clients with deep industry expertise across a broad range of services,” said Jim Peoples, Sterling’s chief banking officer. “We will continue to deliver the utmost in personalized service to support the needs of middle market businesses.”