Retail & Commercial

CardFlex Inc. and its principals have settled charges that they illegally processed more than $26 million in consumer charges on behalf of a company called I Works.

Camden National in Camden, Maine, has agreed to buy SBM Financial in Portland, Maine.

He could have easily shunned the spotlight after leaving Merrill Lynch, but instead John Thain accepted the challenge of reviving the troubled CIT Group. By all measures he's succeeded, cementing his reputation as a fixer, but the job is hardly complete. Next up: transforming the commercial lender into a traditional regional bank through its closely watched acquisition of OneWest Bank.

Fedcoin could have a lot of benefits, such as helping unbanked buy goods and pay bills online. But about those "know-your-customer" risks....

Small merchants in are in no hurry to install EMV card readers, contending that losses from counterfeit credit cards are minimal. That worries bankers, who fear that they could end up looking bad if a small business is victimized by fraud and is then left to absorb the loss.

Notable quotes from JPMorgan Chase's Marianne Lake, Santander's Ana Botin, Citigroup's Michael Corbat and others from around the industry

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PayPal will pay a $7.7 million fine for processing payments from customers that have ties to sanctioned parties on a U.S. Government list.

Alternative financial service providers that sell prepaid cards, bill pay, check cashing and other services to underbanked consumers are becoming more sophisticated with the ways they mine customer data.

Four Oaks Fincorp has added a pair of directors with close ties to the Four Oaks, N.C., company.