Retail & Commercial

By October of this year, ATM owners in the U.S. have to replace or upgrade their machines to accept chip cards or face liability for certain types of fraud. But the upgrade and related ongoing maintenance are so expensive that cash-machine operators like Abe Ayesh, who helps manage about 8,000 ATMs mostly on the East Coast, plans to shut down some of them.

While fintech companies are urging federal regulators to create a federal charter that would allow them to follow a single national standard instead of a myriad of state rules, such a benefit will almost certainly come with strings attached, including possible compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act.

Rather than replace bankers with technologists, bankers must return to their original role in the community: help entrepreneurs succeed through connecting capital with good ideas.

American Express plans to debut an online loan platform for small-business clients this year, targeting territory occupied by startups like Square and On Deck Capital.

Royal Credit Union on Friday said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Apple Valley, Minn., office of Deerwood Bank.

The $1.1 billion-asset company said in a press release Friday that it had combined its $492 million-asset CNB in Centreville, Md., and the $615 million-asset Talbot Bank in Easton, Md., to create Shore United Bank.

Banc of California in Irvine has changed its bylaws to allow for majority voting for directors.

For the second time in six weeks, the online lender Avant is taking steps to reduce the size of its workforce.

Franklin Financial Services in Chambersburg, Pa., has find a successor for its chief executive.

The U.S. mortgage market is of course considerably smaller, safer and less accessible than it was nine years ago.