Retail & Commercial

A number of community banks have gotten into government-backed small-business lending by buying firms or poaching talent. While the business seems lucrative now, there are concerns that too many banks may be jumping into the pool.

Defaults, repossessions and auctions were down 3% last year compared with 2014 and down 62% from a peak in 2010, according to a report released today by RealtyTrac.

TotalBank in Miami said it has promoted Jay Pelham to president, succeeding Luis de la Aguilera, who left the company in December to lead U.S. Century Bank in Doral, Fla.

Labor-intensive cross-marketing programs, which were beyond the scope of small marketing departments, are suddenly feasible thanks to automation.

Mackinac Financial in Manistique, Mich., has agreed to buy First National Bank of Eagle River in Wisconsin.

Overlapping missions and jurisdictions are fueling competition between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission, according to former officials at both agencies.

Bank of America Corp., the second-biggest U.S. lender, said profit rose 9.4 percent on gains in fees and declines in expenses.

Idaho Community Action Network (ICAN) on Monday protested what it calls a lack of action by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding enacting national standards for payday loan operations and ending uncapped loans.

ACA International filed a lawsuit in July to challenge the Federal Communications Commission’s Declaratory Ruling concerning the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. On Friday, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the FCC filed its answering brief to the case, titled ACA International, et al. v. FCC and U.S.

Still facing revenue challenges, Regions, PNC and U.S. Bank vowed to reduce overhead in 2016. The cuts are less about bolstering short-term returns than funding investments in cutting-edge technologies or new products and services to remain competitive.