Retail & Commercial

For all of the noise in the payments industry around transitioning to real-time and same-day digital payments — and in the mainstream media around the bitcoin craze — paper checks still persist as the preferred means of disbursement for the majority of business-to-business transactions.

Scott Page, CEO of CoBiz Bank, will retire in a few days. He will be succeeded by Steven Bangert, the company's chairman and CEO. The company's chief financial officer will also become its chief operating officer.

The company will gain four Chicago-area branches as part of the $41 million all-cash acquisition for the parent of ABC Bank.

Rita Lowman recently joined the bank from C1 Financial, where she had been chief operating officer.

Any decline in home equity balances could be offset by higher demand for other types of consumer loans. The worry is that only borrowers with blemished credit will take out home equity loans, increasing banks’ risk.

David Becker is trying to prove to investors that his Indiana bank can succeed over the long term. With the rise of online banking and fintech firms, Becker is a community banker worth watching in the new year.

Bank M&A started off with a bang this year, with eight of the 10 biggest deals taking place in the first six months. North Carolina and Florida accounted for six deals on the list.

Both in dollar and transaction volume, credit card use is growing at a faster pace than debit use, but one industry group predicts that overall credit union lending could decline in 2018

A new European Union directive guarantees that third-party providers can access bank customers’ account information. The requirement will trigger a new revolution in financial services in Europe that U.S. bankers should be tracking.

A voice banking feature was the overwhelming winner in the Speed Round competition at this year's CUNA Technology Council Conference, but it remains to be seen how widely that technology will be adopted in 2018 and beyond.