Retail & Commercial

Four Oaks Fincorp (FOFN) in Four Oaks, N.C., could raise more than $27 million in a securities agreement and rights offering.

Bitcoin companies are getting more recognition as serious contenders, and as they grow they are filling their ranks with people who established their careers in the mainstream payments industry.

For mortgage lenders, "subprime" can sound like a dirty word, especially after the financial crisis. But now some mortgage companies, in search of new business, are starting to loosen their credit standards again. As some banks and nonbank lenders, including Wells Fargo and Carrington Mortgage, offer mortgages to less creditworthy borrowers, are the subprime mortgage floodgates about to open wide?

With more reliable loan data, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have greater confidence that borrowers would not default. In return, lenders would receive a juicy carrot: fewer buyback requests.

Rilla Delorier, SunTrust's marketing chief, says banks need to work together to promote financial health and change behavior. "We have to do this to save our industry," she says.

A closely watched barometer of consumer confidence surged in March to its highest mark in more than six years.

The Year of Mobile Payments will arrive only when all of the key players — providers, merchants and consumers —are sufficiently motivated to change.

Circle Internet Financial, a startup aiming to make the digital currency Bitcoin more user-friendly for merchants and consumers, has raised another $17 million, bringing its total funding to $26 million.

Circle Internet Financial, a startup aiming to make the digital currency Bitcoin more user-friendly for merchants and consumers, has raised another $17 million, bringing its total funding to $26 million.

RealtyTrac, a company that provides housing and foreclosure data, announced Tuesday that it has entered the tax, deed and mortgage data licensing business, making it the first new entrant in the business in more than a decade.