Retail & Commercial

Bank Technology News has chosen five bankers to be our 2015 Digital Bankers of the Year. They’re creating apps and sites that are engaging, relevant and personalized.

Citi was one of the first banks to open its application programming interfaces to outside developers, leading a movement that's picking up momentum. For this and other efforts, Bank Technology News has chosen Heather Cox as its top 2015 Digital Banker of the Year.

The California Reinvestment Coalition has called for a federal investigation into the foreclosure policies of OneWest Bank in minority neighborhoods.

The FTC has provided its Annual Financial Acts Enforcement Report to the CFPB on enforcement and related activities regarding key industry regulations.

The warehouse retail chain's partnerships with LendingClub and SmartBiz illustrate how bank branches are becoming less relevant in the lives of small-business owners.

HomeStreet in Seattle has hired Melba Bartels as chief financial officer, filling a position that has been vacant since March 2012.

HSBC executives have suggested for months that big changes were coming to its U.S. unit, but the overhaul was less drastic than some had called for. The parent company's CEO defended the decision as necessary to preserve key funding sources and client relationships.

The company, once in the crosshairs of a community group for how it complied with the Community Reinvestment Act, is aiming to raise $200 million with other banks for a fund that will work with local leaders to identify the best way to invest in low-income and underserved neighborhoods.

Piper Jaffray has hired several more executives from Sterne Agee Group, as it expands its financial institutions group.

Evangelical Franklin Graham will move his ministries' funds to BB&T, in protest of a Wells Fargo ad that featured a lesbian couple, the Charlotte Observer reported.