Retail & Commercial

Upgrade, a lending startup that counts Banco Santander SA and SVB Financial Group’s Silicon Valley Bank as investors, is seeking to triple its valuation in a fresh funding round, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

With an agreement in hand to buy Bank of Commerce Holdings in Sacramento, the Washington company will prioritize filling in a 200-mile gap between the seller's footprint and its own.

Changing the retailer's prepaid card into a demand deposit account gives customers access to more digital banking tools.

The deal for Bank of Commerce Holdings in Sacramento would be the first bank acquisition in the Golden State for Tacoma, Washington-based Columbia.

The nation’s largest bank has no retail presence outside of the U.S., but that will change later this year when it launches an online-only bank in the United Kingdom. CEO Jamie Dimon has hinted that if the venture proves successful, the Chase brand could eventually be rolled out in other parts of the world.

How technology is enabling new types of payment transmission and what this means for banking.

Splash recently raised $44 million from investors. It plans to use the funds to aid small institutions that lack the resources to build their own loan platforms but are flush with deposits and looking for new lending opportunities.

The $124 million buyout would give Farmers nearly $800 million of additional assets and deepen its presence in northeast Ohio.

Policymakers need to stop attacking credit bureaus and take action against credit repair firms that use dubious tactics to wipe bad debt from consumers' credit reports. Such schemes both impair banks' ability to accurately underwrite loans and further hurt real victims of identity theft.

The bank's holding company, CRB Group, has acquired PeerIQ, an online lending marketplace data provider backed by the former CEOs of Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. It's said it wants more deals like this one.