Retail & Commercial

Banco Santander named a new chief executive for its unit that serves as the holding company for its U.S. retail bank, Santander Bank, and its subprime auto lender, Santander Consumer USA Holdings.

Eagle Bancorp in Bethesda, Md., is looking to raise funds to exit the Small Business Lending Fund.

Debt buyer Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. will lay off 125 employees this spring. The firm's parent company, Encore Capital Group, disclosed the layoff plans this week in a required filing with the state.

The U.S. Department of Education's plan to end contracts with five collection agencies that allegedly provided wrong information to borrowers is expected to result in 400 lost jobs at one of the agencies.

State Bank Financial in Atlanta has acquired Boyett Agency to serve as the foundation for a new insurance division.

An overlooked issue in the plan to reform Federal Home Loan bank membership could inadvertently jeopardize the local focus of the system by allowing insurance companies to apply for membership in any of the 12 districts.

Costco has picked Visa as its new payment card network and Citigroup as the new issuer of its cobranded credit cards.

PacWest Bancorp in Los Angeles has agreed to buy Square 1 Financial in Durham, N.C.

An audit of Ginnie Mae financials identified four "material weaknesses" and one "significant deficiency," primarily related to the accounting of $6.6 billion in defaulted loans made by the failed lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker.

Popular and FirstBank gained critical branches and deposits in a region where growth is hard to come by. Some observers said it could also benefit the island to have one less competitor.