nonbank

noun

non·​bank ˌnän-ˈbaŋk 

often attributive

: a business that is not an officially established bank but offers many similar services

Examples of nonbank in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Part of that deregulation effort is meant to both bolster banks’ ability to lend to private-credit outfits and to have traditional lenders better compete with nonbank firms in areas such as mortgage and small-business loans. —Katanga Johnson, Fortune, 10 Apr. 2026

Rising interest rates pushed borrowers who couldn’t access public markets toward nonbank lenders — and made direct lending attractive for a growing pool of investors. —Kelsey Warner, semafor.com, 9 Apr. 2026

Private credit, also known as direct lending, is a catch-all term for lending done by nonbank institutions. —Hugh Son, CNBC, 23 Jan. 2026

In a surge of legislative and executive action, New York is expanding its enforcement powers, imposing community lending obligations on nonbank lenders, cracking down on algorithmic bias and deceptive pricing, and becoming one of the first states to regulate frontier AI. —Aj Dhaliwal, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1935, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for nonbank

• gangplank
• outflank
• sandbank
• antitank
• interbank
• mountebank
• riverbank
• banc
• bank
• blank
• clank
• crank

Legal Definition

nonbank

adjective

non·​bank

ˌnän-ˈbaŋk

: being, done by, or involving some entity other than a bank

nonbank lenders

a nonbank depositor

nonbanking adjective