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The "last mile" of a business-to-business payment, as funds reach a destination bank account, needs common standards and transparency as more companies eliminate paper checks and move to digital transactions.

One of Europe's newest digital wallet initiatives is relying on technology that sidesteps carriers, another blow to an industry that's suffered greatly in its attempts to gain share of the mobile payments market.

An estimated 1,300 former students of defunct for-profit Corinthian Colleges Inc. will have their federal student loans canceled by the U.S. Department of Education after it found students were tricked into taking on the loans, according to a government report released Thursday.

The mobile wallet is still a niche product, but many companies worldwide made big strides in bringing secure payments to handheld devices. Some of the most groundbreaking changes happened just in the past year.

The $3.8 billion-asset First Busey said in a press release Thursday that it will pay $210.7 million, or $17.24 a share, in stock for the $1.5 billion-asset Pulaski.

Athens Bancshares in Tennessee has decided to delist its stock from Nasdaq and deregister with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Since consumers have been able to lock in historically low rates, the monthly payment on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has been within reach for most borrowers. That could change with a rise in interest rates.

Flagstar Bancorp in Troy, Mich., has picked Andrew Ottaway for the newly created position of managing director of lending.

The $1 billion-asset Charter said in a press release Thursday that it will pay $58.8 million, or $20.50 a share for the $369 million-asset parent of Community Bank of the South.

First Republic Bank in San Francisco has extended the contract of longtime Chairman and Chief Executive James Herbert for another two years.