Retail & Commercial

California Credit Union receives a CDFI certification, Klarna adds a credit opt out, Amazon enables biometric-powered alcohol payments and more in this week's banking news roundup.

The Kentucky-based bank plans to acquire the $234 million-asset Sumner Bank & Trust in central Tennessee in a transaction expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Two former top bank regulators argue that efforts to eliminate risk from the business of banking is a fool's errand, and say it is time to refocus banks' managers and boards on the business of managing it.

With billions of dollars at stake, financial institutions weighed in on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's proposal to cut credit card late fees to $8, claiming, in part, that small banks and credit unions will suffer economic harm if the plan goes into effect as proposed. 

The beleaguered bank said it is selling 74 loans totaling about $2.6 billion to a subsidiary of Kennedy-Wilson Holdings. The move is part of a plan to pursue strategic asset sales, trim expenses and shore up its balance sheet.

The fintech startup Renaud Laplanche launched seven years ago now works with 200 banks and offers personal loans and a combination debit and credit card. Up next: a secured card that gradually turns into a regular credit card.

A pair of mutual banks in Maryland and New York that sold minority stakes more than a decade ago are pursuing second-step offerings that will result in both becoming fully stock-traded companies.

The success of central bank digital currencies will be directly tied to their usability — by both individuals and businesses.

Citi was unable to reach a deal despite more than a year of talks with a long list of suitors for its consumer, small-business and middle-market banking divisions across Mexico.

Lenders in coveted locations with stable deposit bases are bullish about their expansion opportunities despite the shadow the banking crisis and recession fears have cast on the rest of the industry.