Retail & Commercial

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

The combination of Mercantile and Firstbank is expected to break the bank M&A logjam in Michigan. The combined company will be on the lookout for more deals, executives say.

A Colorado agricultural lender argues that the name of Green Dot's mobile bank account is too similar to its own for the prepaid card marketer to be awarded a trademark.

Bitcoin users who help maintain the digital ecosystem's official record of transactions may soon find themselves required to register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as administrators of the alternative currency.

IMGCAP(1)]

A federal judge raised the possibility that banks will have to repay billions of dollars to merchants, but legal experts say the court lacks the authority to enact such an order.

Merrill Lynch & Co., the 99-year-old firm known for its "thundering herd" of brokers pitching stocks to Main Street, may cease to exist as a legal entity more than four years after being acquired by Bank of America Corp.

In a move aimed at reducing its cost of funds, Eastern Virginia Bankshares (EVBS) is retiring debt owed to the Federal Home Loan Bank System.

Zions Bancorp. (ZION) has promoted an executive in its real estate division to executive vice president and chief credit officer.

Regulators asked a federal court Thursday to reject a bid by U.S. Bank to dismiss a lawsuit over its alleged role in Peregrine Financial's embezzlement scandal.