Retail & Commercial

Hancock Holding is warning of more pain in its energy portfolio as low prices continue to hamper oil and gas firms’ ability to repay their loans.

As online business lenders grow in number, size and prominence, a new trade group is being launched to represent their interests in Washington.

The U.K. bank's new business unit takes advantage of the massive amount of data it stores to offer a new array of products and services, including managing customers' digital identities.

Bay Banks of Virginia in Kilmarnock has increased the size of its fourth-quarter loss, after a commercial borrower pleaded guilty to creating false financial statements.

The subprime consumer lender currently rejects many of its personal loan applicants. It hopes to qualify more borrowers by offering cash to those who are willing to put their cars up as collateral.

Freedom Bank in Columbia Falls, Mont., has been released from a consent order that the FDIC and the Montana Division of Banking and Financial Institutions had implemented in December 2009.

First Sentry Bancshares in Huntington, W.Va., said it will pay $7.4 million in cash and stock to buy the $75 million-asset Rock Branch Community Bank in Nitro, W.Va.

ChoiceOne Financial Services in Sparta, Mich., has given its president, Kelly Potes, the job of chief executive, too.

A program recently started in New York helps entrepreneurs improve their business plans and cash flow before sending them to a bank. The nonprofit lender behind the program, meanwhile, hopes to boost small-business borrowers' credit scores and lower their rates.

Some of today's credit products and practices risk leaving consumers trapped in a cycle of debt.