Retail & Commercial

In the midst of the pandemic recession, banks have benefited from government stimulus payments to consumers, low interest rates and constraints on the supply of new vehicles. But intensifying competition and real concerns about borrowers’ ability to pay loans that went into forbearance could soon threaten profits and credit quality.

The bank must submit a plan for improving its risk management and decreasing its commercial real estate exposure, the Federal Reserve said in an enforcement order.

Credit investors are stepping into a void left by banks and insurance companies and providing debt financing for top-quality hotels in a bet on a post-pandemic recovery, according to a report from the real estate services firm JLL.

Better Financial offers customers up to $5,000 per year in accident coverage, prescription drug discounts and medical debt negotiation to certain account holders.

MUFG Union Bank is offering a new deposit product to commercial clients who want to see their cash reserves used to help finance sustainable projects, such as renewable energy or green transportation.

The company would gain its first branches around Annapolis after it buys Severn Bancorp in a deal valued at $146 million.

Aspiration makes donations to a tree-planting charity based on debit card spending, buys carbon offsets for gas purchases and rates retailers' environmental records.

DMG Bancshares, formed by banking veteran Don Griffith, wants to buy more West Coast banks. For California First, the sale ends a four-year period in which it substantially shrank its loan book after it was ordered to shed leveraged loans.

The Small Business Administration is still writing rules for the Paycheck Protection Program two months after its relaunch. Lenders fear they may not have enough time to review those rules before the program’s March 31 expiration date.

Brian Milton, who ran MUFG Union's digital bank, was named head of banking and would become CEO of Thrivent Bank, which plans to have a digitally focused platform and operate as an industrial loan company.