Retail & Commercial

With US banks facing a fresh wave of capital restrictions, some are searching for ways to trade out of risky loan portfolios and free up their balance sheets. The solution may very well lie with capital-rich lenders in the booming $1.5 trillion private credit market.

Goldman is offloading the lending platform less than two years after acquiring it as part of a broader retreat from the mass market.

The company now has 35 million users worldwide and launched new features this summer that include automated investing and expanded account access for non-citizens living in the U.S. But the features come amid controversies at the fintech.

Central Valley Community Bancorp's agreement to buy Community West Bancshares, slated to close in the second quarter, would create a $3.6 billion-asset bank in the Greater Sacramento region.

Brown, who's been Ally Financial's top executive for nearly nine years, joined the company 14 years ago and played a key role in reshaping it after the financial crisis. He will become the president of a large auto dealer group.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said the CFPB is enforcing a long-dormant provision of Dodd-Frank in its advisory opinion prohibiting banks from charging fees to obtain basic account information.

Blue Ridge Bank in Virginia changed course after its rapid growth in the fintech partnership business landed it in hot water. But the path back to a traditional community banking model is also proving to be bumpy.

Other banks likely will follow the lead of the Richmond, Virginia, company and tap the equity in their branch networks as alternative sources of capital grow more costly, experts say.

The shape it takes could have implications for how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac price loans for nonbanks and depositories.

Lenders at an American Bankers Association conference this week railed against proposed regulatory requirements they argue could drive up costs, curb credit availability and ultimately hurt borrowers in already fragile economic times.