Retail & Commercial

The state of Illinois has spent more than $900 million on penalties for not paying its bills on time over the past six years, according to the Chicago-based government watchdog group, Civic Federation.

The distributed ledger technology has an answer for updating every core function of the antiquated financial system.

Guaranty Federal Bancshares in Springfield, Mo., has elected James Batten, a director of the company since 2006, as its next chairman.

The total balance of write-offs year-to-date through March for first mortgages, home equity lines of credit and home equity loans is $9.5 billion, a nine-year low for Q1 and a year-over-year decrease of 22.7%, according to Equifax's National Consumer Credit Trends Report.

RealtyTrac's latest U.S. Residential Property Loan Origination Report shows 1.4 million loans were originated on U.S. residential properties in the first quarter, the lowest level since the first quarter of 2014.

Small-scale financial services companies such as storefront lenders and local money transmitters which use technology should have a choice of whether they are regulated by a state or federal regime.

Digital upstarts that seemed on top of the world a few months ago have suffered a series of setbacks of late that raise questions about their long-term survival. Here's a look at the developments that have brought some once-high-flying online lenders back to earth.

Blockchain, the distributed ledger technology commonly associated with bitcoin, is getting a lot of attention as a way to jettison fee-snagging correspondent banks from remittances, but Align Commerce insists blockchain has even more uses.

The head of a small bank in Massachusetts has negotiated a $1.3 million change-in-control payment when his bank gets sold even though he will remain with the new company. Investors in the seller complain that's unfair, but others say it can be a mutually beneficial incentive for M&A dealmakers.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has charged a Mississippi company with refusing to disclose check-cashing fees to consumers, deceptively pressuring borrowers into taking out multiple payday loans and keeping overpayments.