Retail & Commercial

Strong demand for new cars has boosted consumer borrowing to its highest level since 2008, according to a new report from Equifax.

The activist investor claims that D.F. King failed to turn in a master ballot, causing his board candidate to lose an election.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency should require the government-sponsored enterprises to purchase loans with "deeper levels of credit enhancement (via mortgage insurance, lender recourse or capital market investors) in exchange for bona fide reductions in guarantee fees and other loan level charges," the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a new white paper released Monday.

NCR Corp. is integrating SCVNGR's LevelUp mobile payment system with its Aloha POS system for restaurants.

Technology has dramatically changed the way people bank, but many banks areresponding by closing and opening branches rather than arming themselves with data that could make existing branches more efficient.

While many still see Bitcoin as an unrealistic payment method, venture capitalists say there are clear use cases for the decentralized cryptocurrency in micropayments, international remittance and charity.

The $208 million-asset bank has filed an application for the change with regulators, it said last week. Executives wanted to get away from the geographically limiting name, though they plan to keep the bank's headquarters in Lowell.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) is replacing Sanjiv Das, the chief executive of its mortgage unit, with private bank head Jane Fraser.

The best-connected bankers in town combine heartfelt community involvement with hard-headed pragmatism about the importance of personal relationships when doing business. American Banker Magazine Editor Heather Landy discusses what others can learn from their examples.

Some consumers in London reportedly experienced problems with the contactless payment system U.K. retail giant Marks & Spencer recently expanded into all of its 644 stores.