Retail & Commercial

Mortgage-bond investors are urging the government to stop banks from saddling them with the costs of probes into sales of the debt.

More than 60 bills that would impact the credit and collection industry were introduced in the past six months and considered during the New York Legislature’s 2014 session that recessed last Friday.

In widely anticipated legislation on Bitcoin, Canada is regulating digital currency businesses under existing rules for money movement and California is updating its laws to legalize the use of alternative currencies.

The scams involving home-based businesses included offering payment processing services, credit card terminals and merchant cash advances to small businesses.

Opus Bank (OPB) in Irvine, Calif., has launched a small-business banking division.

Philip W. Tomlinson, CEO of Total Systems Services (TSYS), will retire on July 31. He will be succeeded by M. Troy Woods, the company's president and COO.

Green Bancorp in Houston has filed to raise $100 million by going public. The company said in its filing that it plans to use $8 million of the IPO's net proceeds to partially pay for its pending $46 million acquisition of SP Bancorp in Plano, Texas.

Nearly 20% of consumers worldwide lack confidence that their banks can protect them from payment card fraud, yet nearly half do things that potentially expose them to fraud, new research says.

State Bank Financial (STBZ) in Atlanta has agreed to buy Georgia-Carolina Bancshares (GECR) in Augusta, Ga. The $2.6 billion-asset State Bank will pay about $82 million, or $22.35 a share, in cash and stock.

Umpqua Holdings (UMPQ) in Portland, Ore., will close 27 branches by the end of this year as part of its integration of Sterling Financial in Spokane, Wash.