Retail & Commercial

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray sat silently at a public hearing as a room full of the industry's customers and employees argued that Americans should be allowed to make their own borrowing choices.

At least two startups who demoed at Finovate this week are trying to step in between banks and commercial borrowers in the same way peer to peer lenders already have — with crowdfunding.

Analyze data to tailor offers and draft sales pitches that customers, particularly those visiting branches, will have a hard time refusing.

Four community banks announced Troubled Asset Relief Program redemptions Wednesday. Two were in Missouri and one each in South Carolina and Virginia.

nCino, which sells cloud-based bank operating software, scored a new client in Square 1 Bank of Durham, N.C.

Peoples Bancorp (PEBO) in Marietta, Ohio, has bought three insurance agencies in Jackson, Ohio.

Commerce Bancshares in Kansas City, Mo., has struck a deal for Summit Bancshares of Tulsa that would nearly double its asset base in Oklahoma.

Banks are starving for new revenue sources these days. Some are responding to fierce competition in mainstream lending markets by looking further afield, to financing ventures like improving energy efficiency and the building of manufactured housing. Following are examples of banks that are creating daylight between themselves and their rivals by focusing on unique businesses.

The common-sense steps taken in the bill will help even the playing field between community banks and big financial firms.

Sam Yam was the college roommate of Jack Conte, half of the indie band Pomplamoose. Together, they founded Patreon to help artists like Conte raise funds from fans online.