Retail & Commercial

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.

Truxton Trust's approach is just one strategy banks are using attract more wealthy clients. But whether they are exploring out-of-market opportunities, staying local or employing robo-advisers, banks all have the same goals: to generate more fee income at a time when margins from lending continue to shrink.

The CFPB filed a lawsuit Wednesday charging a check casher and payday lending company of tricking and trapping customers at its 43 stores in Mississippi and at locations in Louisiana and Alabama.

Say what you will about these companies' longevity, were it not for the likes of Lending Club you wouldn't see banks like Wells Fargo introducing expedited loan products.

Can't anybody get along … for even five minutes? JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon called community banking leader Cam Fine a "jerk" on cable television. Fine responded by blasting megabanks for their role in the financial crisis.