Chris Hobbs built SouthState Equipment Finance from scratch in late 2022, pairing an indirect buyside syndication strategy with a direct originations build-out. Now targeting $500 million in assets within a year, he talks construction niches, a nine-person team set to grow and staying his clients’ primary bank.
Chris Hobbs joined SouthState six and a half years ago on the middle market banking team, brought in to specialize in equipment finance as the bank diversified further into C&I lending through acquisition. With executive management’s backing, he created SouthState Equipment Finance, combining an indirect buyside syndication strategy with plans to build a direct originations channel — work informed by prior stops at SunTrust Equipment Finance Group, Wells Fargo Equipment Finance, Citi Capital, CIT and Volvo Commercial Finance. “The opportunity was to deliver specialized structuring, leasing and syndication solutions while keeping clients within their primary banking relationship,” Hobbs says, pairing regional-bank responsiveness with the expertise of larger bank-owned platforms.
The group takes what Hobbs calls a generalist banking approach, concentrated on construction, manufacturing and specialty transportation, with an average deal size of $5 million and above. Direct origination runs primarily through SouthState’s footprint, including newer expansion markets in Tennessee, Texas and Colorado, while the indirect portfolio reaches nationally. Within that mix, Hobbs points to construction and utility construction as a particular focus, given the infrastructure upgrades and expansion underway across the country. He says the group leans on syndications and capital markets to support larger transactions and generate fee income on deals typically associated with bigger institutions.
The team stands at nine employees, with plans to grow to 12 to 15 over the next two years. Products currently span a full suite of loans and leases, along with financing for specialty assets like aircraft and marine equipment. Hobbs measures success in concrete terms: he wants the group’s portfolio to exceed $500 million in assets within the next 12 months, built on clients who see SouthState as their primary banking partner rather than a single-transaction lender.
Asked to describe the culture, Hobbs points to a blend of scale and intimacy: “SouthState has a unique culture that combines the capabilities of a large regional bank with the relationship-first mentality of a community bank.” Teamwork, accountability and doing right by clients matter as much as the deal itself, he says. That same ethos extends to how the group wants Monitor readers to think of it: anchored in local market leadership, entrepreneurial and agile, but disciplined about long-term profitability and soundness rather than growth for its own sake.
“Our people genuinely care about one another, our customers and the communities we serve, and that commitment is a big part of what makes SouthState a special place.”