Payday lending

Four Oaks Bank in North Carolina has named Warren "Rocky" Herring its chief credit officer. Herring had held the same job at Premier Commercial Bank in Greensboro, N.C., before NewBridge Bancorp bought it last month.

California assemblyman Matt Dababneh, D-Encino, has proposed AB 1326, a bill that provides guidelines for any individual or business that wants to start using virtual currency.

In unusually expansive comments, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray provided new details Tuesday about proposals due soon from the agency while offering insights into an internal battle over easing a key mortgage rule.

The Massachusetts senator wants to induce more competition and diversity in the banking industry and improve the economic prospects of a majority of Americans. Both changes would benefit the financial services sector as a whole.

New York Community Bancorp wants Washington to raise the asset size for systemically important financial institutions, but in the meanwhile its asset sales to stay under the threshold helped to boost profits and its CEO is pursuing possible M&A deals.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued a letter Wednesday emphasizing that financial institutions should take a measured approach to banking relationships rather than cutting ties with entire lines of businesses.

SimpleFi is working with a New Jersey bank to pitch its payday loan alternative and financial educational services to employers across the country come February 1. It represents part of the trend of disruptors rethinking payroll data.

U.S. banks are cutting off payday lenders' access to a database of account information used to evaluate potential borrowers as regulators seek to rein in abusive practices.

The Federal Trade Commission announced its largest-ever payday lending settlement on Friday, as two companies agreed to pay $21 million and waive another $285 million in charges that were never collected from customers.

Even is building a mobile money-management service for baristas, Lyft drivers, freelancers and others with unpredictable incomes. For $5 a week, users can draw advances on paychecks during rough patches.

After nearly two years, the Justice Department so far has accused just one bank of facilitating consumer fraud. And the aftermath of that case suggests that prosecutors' strategy is not as effective as they hoped it would be.