Retail & Commercial

Approval from the Federal Reserve Board is all that stands between Bank of the Ozarks in Little Rock, Ark., and two acquisitions that will add $6.1 billion in assets.

The government-sponsored enterprises' risk-sharing deals are being hailed as an innovative approach for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offload credit exposure to private markets. But their growing popularity is raising questions about how these transactions should be reported in financial statements.

Visa responded to a lawsuit brought this week by Wal-Mart, defending the practice of having shoppers sign for debit-card purchases and saying that's what consumers prefer to do.

BancAlliance, a network of community banks that has been snapping up loans from LendingClub, is weighing whether to suspend purchases on the online platform after the company said it's overhauling internal controls.

The pervasiveness of consumers' credit problems highlights why the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's upcoming short-term lending rules should avoid unintended consequences.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

Coastal Carolina Bancshares in Myrtle Beach, S.C., said in a press release Thursday that it will pay $12.2 million in cash and stock for VistaBank in Aiken, S.C.

The $1.6 billion-asset company said in a press release Thursday that Anders Tomson will succeed Ronald Bentley as its CEO at the end of the year.

The disruption of the taxi industry caused by Uber and Lyft continues to hurt banks that finance taxi medallions. Anticipating more chargeoffs to come, these banks are aggressively boosting their reserves, restructuring delinquent loans and reselling or leasing out foreclosed medallions.

Banks have a hard time figuring out millennials, those born between the early 1980s and 2000. Many millennials don't remember a world without the Internet, plenty entered adulthood during the thick of the financial crisis and the generation is broadly considered one willing to vote with its feet. Several firms have tried to demystify millennials for bankers. The following is a look at some of the data.