Retail & Commercial

The online lender posted a profit for the sixth consecutive quarter, as higher margins helped offset a decline in loan originations.

Rakefet Russak-Aminoach, who will leave the company at the end of the month, has raised net profit and lowered costs by revamping its technology and culture.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette FCU, originally chartered to serve newspaper employees, has received regulatory approval to merge into a larger institution.

The online platform lender Kabbage is making the move beyond just providing working capital loans to small businesses, putting it in direct competition with alternative acquirers and payment companies.

Midsize players like BankUnited, BOK and Fulton Financial plan to rely on selective M&A, catering to niches overlooked by big banks, aggressive recruitment of commercial lenders and other strategies to stimulate revenue growth.

Originally formed to help consumers spot recurring charges, Truebill is adding banking and financial management features to its app.

Huntington Bancshares and U.S. Bancorp also said in recent days that they are eliminating jobs to reduce overhead and improve profits. With net interest margins shrinking and branch traffic continuing to decline, expect more banks to follow suit, analysts say.

Executives say they are passing on more loans as bank and nonbank competitors cut rates and forgo traditional safeguards.

It has already been modifying more problem loans and investing in efforts to recover charged-off loans, and now the credit card lender is ready to tighten underwriting in case the economy weakens.

Outages last week at Chime and Varo Money have executives on the defensive.