Retail & Commercial

Florida overturned a ban on credit card surcharges on the grounds that it violates merchants' free speech. Some lawyers doubt that this unusual strategy has legs, but it has worked in a surprising number of courts.

Marketplace lenders are still so new that their business model is untested and unproven, raising fears both for consumers and the industry at large, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. officials and several bankers said Thursday.

EnerBank USA in Salt Lake City has chosen Charlie Knadler to succeed Louise Kelly as president and chief executive after her retirement next month.

National Bank Holdings in Greenwood Village, Colo., has filed an application to convert NBH Bank from a national association to a Colorado state-charted bank.

Fannie Mae was affected by the same derivatives accounting mismatch that led to Freddie Mac's first quarterly loss in four years. But its bulk and balance sheet provided enough cushion for the larger of the two government-sponsored enterprises to post a profit for the third quarter.

WEX has selected Roberto Simon to become the fleet card company's next chief financial officer.

Automobile lending reached its highest level ever at the end of the third quarter while showing few signs of credit weakness, the credit bureau Experian reported Wednesday.

Financial institutions are often thought of as major consumers of technology, but a pair of recent examples show that more tech is being developed in-house and, once proven feasible, monetizing it. Expect more spin-offs, observers predict.

KeyCorp’s biggest deal since Beth Mooney became CEO would make it the 13th largest U.S. commercial bank if approved, and a proposal from Virgin Money's Jayne-Anne Gadhia could prompt the U.K. to peg bank exec bonuses to gender diversity. Also: Barclays' Barbara Byrne, KKR's Suzanne Donohoe and JPM's Eileen Serra.

The CFPB is evaluating whether it should take legal action against the Minnesota company for how it handles overdraft protection. The move comes as TCF takes steps to become less dependent on services charges for fee revenue.