Retail & Commercial

Ten years from now, today's brick-and-mortar banks, and digital banking services, will look like quaint vestiges of a bygone era.

MetroCorp (MCBI) in Houston hired a consultant to scout possible Chinese suitors before agreeing to sell to East West Bancorp (EWBC) in Los Angeles.

The San Mateo, Calif., company plans to launch a new online lending platform, a sign of increasing competition among consumer-debt-consolidation lenders.

Payments servicing provider Nortridge is integrating with PayNearMe's electronic cash transaction network to enable borrowers to make payments at 7-Eleven and ACE Cash Express stores, thus reducing the risk lenders would face in in accepting cash payments at their own locations.

Mobile wallet providers such as PayPal, Google and LevelUp already allow consumers to add funds by scanning a credit or debit card with a smartphone's camera. Banks can use similar technology to allow customers to open and fund new accounts from a mobile phone.

Three collection companies used forged Wells Fargo (WFC) and U.S. Bank (USB) documents to recoup debts from defaulted borrowers, according to a complaint filed by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers.

Tom Meuser will leave the role at the end of the year, the Sacramento Business Journal reported Tuesday. George Cook, the bank's president, will succeed him.

CFOs gave the strength of the U.S. economy an average score of 53 out of 100 — up from 49 a year ago and the highest recorded rating in the last six years, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2014 CFO Outlook survey.

U.S. Bancorp (USB) in Minneapolis has agreed to pay $53 million to Freddie Mac to resolve mortgage-repurchase obligations.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused GE Capital Retail Bank of misleading consumers into a health care credit card product that retroactively charged exorbitant interest rates, marking the agency's first significant attempt to go after such offerings.