Retail & Commercial

Wells Fargo and Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase are pressing downstream to compete for commercial and industrial loans, and regional and small banks are feeling the pain more than ever.

PennyMac became the third largest correspondent aggregator after banks turned their back on the mortgage origination channel. With banks now increasingly shedding servicing rights, PennyMac is poised to make a similar play in servicing.

NewDominion Bank in Charlotte, N.C., said Wednesday that its chief executive, C. John Hipp, plans to retire by the end of the year. He will be succeeded by Blaine Jackson, the bank's chief financial officer.

Ana Patricia Botin, named chairman of Banco Santander SA (SAN), becomes the most powerful woman in European banking, succeeding her father a day after his death.

Interest rate risk. Demanding regulatory and GSE standards. Shifting demographics. These are among the reasons that lenders will have a hard time balancing the call for affordable home loans with legal and market realities.

New regulatory and investor compliance requirements have put a renewed emphasis on quality control measures. But lenders are discovering the additional costs of these efforts are outweighed by the savings from originating fewer defective loans.

Bank of America Corp. trading executives David Moore and David Hartney departed as the firm prepares to eliminate fixed-income and equities jobs worldwide, according to people with knowledge of the moves.

More millennials could become homeowners if banks educate them about private student loan refinancing options and programs that can help them obtain affordable mortgages.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., plans to introduce the Fair Credit Reporting Improvement Act of 2014 on Wednesday, a measure to overhaul the 44-year-old law governing how lenders report consumer payments to credit bureaus.

First Business Financial Services in Madison, Wis., has appointed David Papritz as chief financial officer and senior vice president of corporate development.