Banking

A new wave of exciting innovation is presenting businesses with opportunities to improve processes and the consumer experience.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group agreed to pay $1.1 billion to settle the first of three major U.S. mortgage-backed securities probes the bank must overcome before it can resume dividend payments.

For banks eyeing blockchain technology, 2016 has been the year of tests, trials and proofs of concept. By this time next year, however, some 15% of them could be running blockchain solutions in the wild, according to research by IBM.

The Chamber of Digital Commerce has opened a new outpost in the nation's capital. But instead of looking for a staid law office, the bitcoin advocacy group formed a partnership with the local incubator 1776 to launch the DC Blockchain Center.

Wells Fargo Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf will forfeit $41 million of stock, plus some salary, as the bank's board investigates the company's bogus-account scandal.

The Wall Street firm believes that its gold-plated brand will help attract middle-class borrowers.

JPMorgan Chase's Thasunda Duckett has been named chief executive officer of consumer banking as part of one of the bank's periodic management reshufflings.

Marketplace lenders' share of the consumer and small-business loan markets is small now, but is expected to grow substantially in the coming years. Banks looking to get in on the action have two choices: team up with these established players that have already perfected the technology or try to beat them at their own game.

Swift announced Tuesday additional efforts to beef up security on its network, following highly publicized hacks of member banks earlier this year.

WASHINGTON -- The Chamber of Digital Commerce has opened a new outpost in the nation’s capital. But instead of looking for a staid law office, the bitcoin advocacy group formed a partnership with local incubator 1776 to launch the DC Blockchain Center.

Nine global banks are testing blockchain and smart contract technologies to see if they can improve the syndicated loan market.

Lenders are starting to bring artificial intelligence into their lending processes. Some wonder whether the machines can make rational, unbiased choices.

New York MTA has put business with Wells Fargo Securities and approval as a senior manager for bond transactions on hold pending its review of the bank’s practices, following revelations that Wells Fargo bank employees secretly created accounts without clients’ approval

Aquiline Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm focused on investing in financial services and financial technology companies, announced Tuesday the creation of a new holding company that will acquire businesses focused on developing software used to manage and collect payments from groups and organizations.

Bank of Southern California in San Diego has agreed to sell $7 million of its common stock to the asset management firm Castle Creek Capital.

The parent company of the consumer lender LendUp has been fined more than $6.3 million by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the California Department of Business Oversight for overcharging borrowers and violating payday and installment lending laws.

Concerns about cross-selling run deeper than the risk of misbehavior. The practice also has a questionable economic rationale.

The move is an example of how banks are looking to fintech entrepreneurs to bring innovation in, and it illustrates the emphasis and importance banks are putting on their mobile channels.

The $13 billion-asset company, formed by the merger of BBCN Bancorp and Wilshire Bancorp, said in a press release Monday that it will close 12 branches in southern California, New York and New Jersey as part of a broader cost-cutting effort.

First Merchants Corp. in Muncie, Ind., has agreed to buy a minority stake in Independent Alliance Banks in Fort Wayne, Ind.