Retail & Commercial

First Niagara Financial Group in Buffalo, N.Y., reported lower second-quarter profit as the cost of technology improvements and lower securities yields offset loan growth.

The Small Business Administration has worked hard to make its flagship 7(a) loan program more attractive, adding lenders, slashing fees and cutting red tape to speed the review process. Now, the agency is paying the price for its efforts.

Cornerstone Bank in York, Neb., has agreed to acquire Guide Rock State Bank in Nebraska.

The Ohio company has been giving customers longer grace periods to address overdraft charges. While it has seen service charges decline, the company has been adding customers and checking accounts.

BankUnited in Miami Lakes, Fla., reported a decline in second-quarter profit as increased costs from its Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. indemnification asset offset a sharp uptick in new lending.

The $36.8 billion-asset bank earned $597.5 million in the second quarter, compared to a loss of $511.3 million a year earlier. Earnings per share were $5.80.

One of the biggest U.S. mortgage lenders is looking to disrupt the disruptors in the market for peer-to-peer loans.

Discover Financial Services is ready to take a few steps — measured, tentative, exhaustively analyzed steps — down the credit spectrum, its chief executive said.

A new compromise package in a Senate highway funding bill proposes to raise $2.4 billion by handing the job of tax collection over to private collection agencies.

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