Retail & Commercial

John Garbarino will step aside as chairman of the $4.2 billion-asset company on Dec. 31, but he will turn over the job to a familiar face — Christopher Maher, who will remain president and chief executive, also.

The bank, which operates in 12 states, is bringing customers in the door even as it cuts its retail square footage by half. The lure? The offer of a financial "checkup" that tens of thousands of people have accepted.

The engineers on Arjun Sirrah's team are on a first-name basis with customer service staff. Those relationships help Darien Rowayton Bank's student lending arm competes with fintech companies.

The regional bank has extensively studied the viability of such platforms, but has been unable to develop a plan to fits its risk appetite.

Ottawa Savings Bancorp in Ottawa, Ill., is planning its second-step conversion.

Comments by JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon have added fuel to the long-discussed idea of a national database that would make it easier for banks to vet customers for anti-money-laundering and other risks.

Financial Institutions in Warsaw, N.Y., said it had secured enough votes to prevail in a fight with a big shareholder.

Bankers have long complained that customers are fee averse. Aspiration, a nonbank that is working with a Boston bank, has a model that is proving that some clients will voluntarily pay fees.

Well-established tech giants like Amazon and Google pose a more formidable threat to banks than the thousands of startups populating the fintech market.

Credit quality can only go downhill from here. Speaking at an industry conference Thursday, the heads of several big banks — including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and U.S. Bancorp — warned of looming deterioration in their loan books.