The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday edition that Canada's economy may be on shaky ground amid the continuing trade tensions with the United States, but that's done little to slow the growth of VersaBank, whose founder has been named Executive of the Year by the Canadian Lenders Association. Postmedia's Jonathan Juha writes that in less than two years after acquiring Minnesota-based Stearns Bank Holdingford to enter the U.S., the branchless digital commercial lender's assets have surpassed $6-billion from $4.8-billion, said David Taylor, VersaBank's founder and president. Though its portfolio of banking products is growing, VersaBank specializes in business-to-business financing, including a type of point-of-sale loan the bank pioneered in Canada and is rolling out in the U.S. The way it works is that a customer can receive a loan when buying a big-ticket item, such as a motorcycle or HVAC system, offered by the business selling the product through a point-of-sale financing company. The loan is then bought by VersaBank, so the bank isn't lending the money directly to the customer, but to its point-of-sale partner. Mr. Taylor worked for banks such as the BMO and Barclays PLC before starting his own in 1993.