BOCA RATON, Fla., March 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NewtekOne, Inc. (NASDAQ:NEWT) ("NewtekOne") announced that its bank subsidiary, Newtek Bank, National Association (the "Bank"), launched the Newtek Seven Day Business Loan™: business loans of up to $350,000 funded to approved borrowers within seven days of a complete loan application. The Newtek Seven Day Business Loan is structured over a ten-year repayment period, with no balloon payment risk, and a total borrowing cost – including interest and fees – that we believe is materially more favorable than other quick funding alternatives such as merchant cash advance ("MCA").

The Bank is using our internally developed NewTracker^® loan processing system, powered by AI, to achieve turn times of seven days. As part of the underwriting process, the Bank uses AI to assist in providing financing to independent business owners using a true five Cs of credit discipline. We have developed processes that incorporate AI into the loan origination process to, among other things, analyze historical financials, project future cash flows, and facilitate taking liens on assets. In addition, AI will assist in our review of corporate documents and other aspects of the business. Instead of using manual labor, the Bank is using AI to perform data gathering, integration and presentation to the Bank's credit committee. Importantly, the Bank's team of credit professionals reviews the data and ultimately makes the credit decision. Incorporating AI into the underwriting process makes for a better borrower experience by reducing upfront fees and time to close.

"Time is money for independent business owner clients," said Barry Sloane, Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman, of NewtekOne. "We are pleased to be able to offer clients a term loan, secured with collateral, of up to $350,000 in just seven days. With the Newtek Seven Day Business Loan, creditworthy borrowers can avoid less attractive options such as MCAs or daily debit financing, which typically carry extremely high rates of interest and short repayment schedules, and get access to a more reasonably priced and structured business loan with dramatically lower payment options than MCA and similar products. We anticipate that the vast majority of Newtek Seven Day Business Loans will amortize over ten years, and without a balloon payment, which will give independent business owners a predictable and manageable monthly payment. We believe many independent business owners will increasingly gravitate to lenders like Newtek Bank that use state-of-the-art technology and software to offer an expedited process and a better product, which is the value proposition many independent business owners have been seeking."

Mr. Sloane added, "Our use of AI in the lending function is not limited to the Newtek Seven Day Business Loan program. We are also processing loans from $350,000 to $15,000,000 with the same internally developed processes using AI, which dramatically reduces time and costs to close. These AI-expedited processes are also allowing us to reduce fees that would normally be passed on to borrowers. In addition, we're minimizing errors that can come with more manual processes. Incorporating AI into the underwriting process partially explains why we have tripled the number of loans closed over the last three years without adding headcount to loan closing staff."

Mr. Sloane continued, "At our Investor Day in early January, we emphasized NewtekOne's technological advantage in banking and the functions in which we were using AI to produce a better outcome not only for our independent business owner clients but also for our shareholders. Today's announcement is evidence of that. Lending is one of those functions where we have incorporated AI into the process, which has accelerated the loan approval and funding timeline without compromising the credit quality of the lending decision. The quicker turn time is a clear benefit to the Bank's clients while the benefits to NewtekOne's shareholders are numerous. NewtekOne is able (1) to scale while scaling back hiring, promoting improved operating efficiency and profitability, (2) to establish a clearer path to growth while improving the integrity of the underwriting decision, and (3) to fully capture the franchise value created by internally developing AI-powered processes."

Mr. Sloane concluded, "We have also demonstrated to the market the ability to open depository accounts digitally without traditional bankers, brokers, or branches as evidenced by the 9,000 deposit accounts we opened in the fourth quarter of 2025, bringing total depository accounts to 35,000. We believe that technology-oriented banks of the future will need to use all of these tools to take deposits, transfer funds on a real time basis, and provide funding to customers quickly, efficiently, and with prudent credit underwriting."

About NewtekOne, Inc.

NewtekOne ^®, Your Business Solutions Company^®, is a financial holding company, which along with its bank and non-bank consolidated subsidiaries (collectively, "NewtekOne"), provides a wide range of business and financial solutions under the Newtek^® brand to independent business owners. Since 1999, NewtekOne has provided state-of-the-art, cost-efficient products and services and efficient business strategies to independent business owners across all 50 states to help them grow their sales, control their expenses, and reduce their risk.

NewtekOne's and its subsidiaries' business and financial solutions include: Banking (Newtek Bank, N.A.), Business Lending, SBA Lending Solutions, Electronic Payment Processing, Accounts Receivable Financing & Inventory Financing, Insurance Solutions and Payroll and Benefits Solutions. In addition, NewtekOne offers its clients the Technology Solutions (Cloud Computing, Data Backup, Storage and Retrieval, IT Consulting and Web Services) provided by Intelligent Protection Management Corp. (IPM.com)

Newtek ^®, NewtekOne ^®, Newtek Bank ^®, National Association, Your Business Solutions Company®, One Solution for All Your Business Needs® and Newtek Advantage® are registered trademarks of NewtekOne, Inc.

Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the rules and regulations of the Private Securities Litigation and Reform Act of 1995 are based on the current beliefs and expectations of NewtekOne's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. See "Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and the sections entitled "Risk Factors" in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission which are available on NewtekOne's website (https://investor.newtekbusinessservices.com/sec-filings) and on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website (www.sec.gov). Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of NewtekOne speak only as to the date they are made, and NewtekOne does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statements were made.

SOURCE: NewtekOne, Inc.

Investor Relations & Public Relations

Contact: Bryce Rowe

Telephone: (212) 273-8292 / browe@newtekone.com

Newtek Bank, N.A. Introduces the Newtek Seven Day Business Loan™