Banking

Sterling would gain $458 million in loans and an origination platform by acquiring Advantage Funding Management.

OP Bancorp in Los Angeles aims to raise $20 million to fund organic growth and acquisitions.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: PayPal files virtual currency payments patent; Manny Pacquiao gets his own cryptocurrency; Chip cards advance in Africa; U.S. Marshals auction seized bitcoin; Iceland investigates alternative currency mining theft.

The online retailer wants to offer customers checking accounts but won’t become a bank; Quarles says the rule is too complex and “not working well.”

Promontory Interfinancial Network, a provider of bank products and services, goes to great lengths (sometimes literally) to retain its employees over the long term.

Spirit Community Bank would be based in Statesville, a community about 45 miles north of Charlotte. A separate set of organizers has already shared plans to open a bank east of Charlotte.

The negotiations between Amazon and big banks like JPMorgan Chase and Capital One to offer a checking-account-like product pose significant questions for regulators about the e-commerce giant pushing further into the banking space.

News that Amazon is courting banks to help it offer its own branded checking account raises major questions about which banks could be helped or hurt, who would control the relationship and how Amazon's partner(s) would make money.

As with most of the company's inventions, an Amazon checking account would more deeply embed customers into an Amazon ecosystem that provides an endless flow of data and efficiencies.

Juniata Valley Financial used a combination of patience and guile to land a hard-to-get Pennsylvania bank after wooing it for more than a decade.

A New Hampshire bank CEO argues that the reform bill awaiting a vote in the Senate will free up community banks to focus more on their customers and less on compliance.

Year to date through Dec. 31, 2017. Dollars in thousands.

The online lender is taking a stand against businesses that sell assault weapons or that sell any type of firearms to people under 21.

Year to date through Dec. 31, 2017. Dollars in thousands.

The fintech industry has some cool workplace quirks, but behind the fun factor is a serious mission to build an enthusiastic, satisfied workforce.

Amazon.com Inc. is in talks with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Capital One Financial Corp. about offering the tech giant’s customers a product similar to a checking account.

The bill would raise the threshold to $250 billion for SIFI banks; small banks that lowered credit standards to attract customers are paying the price.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: Amazon's reportedly in talks with JPMorgan Chase to build a checking account; Mexico may adopt open banking; U.K.'s regulatory sandbox may expand; Walmart adds to its delivery strategy; Louisiana investigates unauthorized bitcoin mining.

Online lenders build a seamless customer journey from screening to underwriting to origination to servicing to funding, writes Krista Morgan, CEO and co-founder of P2Binvestor.

The $356 million-asset Bridgewater Credit Union plans to merge into $596 million Merrimack Valley Credit Union in the summer of 2018, pending regulatory approval.