Banking

Apple Pay got only a brief mention during the tech giant's introduction of the iPhone 7 on Sept. 7, but the changes have global implications.

First Financial Bancorp in Cincinnati has made Brad Ringwald its president of community banking; named Paul Silva the president of investment commercial real estate; tapped Rick Dennen to oversee the company's national lending businesses; and said Roddell McCullough, director of community development, will take on more responsibility helping determine the strategy for that area.

The trade group challenged the NCUA's member business lending rules enacted in February, but also hinted that it is prepared to file another lawsuit should the agency move forward with a separate regulation that would expand credit unions' field of membership.

Live Oak Bancshares in Wilmington, N.C., has formed a renewable energy lending division.

Who knows more about customers than banks? With great data comes great responsibility, though. Banks are expected to show their customers they know them, but are held to a higher standard than, say, Netflix.

Teller-less branches at SafeWay stores helped Boeing Employees Credit Union boost membership by nearly 50% between 2009 and 2015.

Opus Bank in Irvine, Calf., has given more responsibilities to its head of capital markets.

Despite their slowdown in growth, marketplace lenders are still in good position to gain from the digitization of the financial services industry.

Making good on threats it had made previously, the Independent Community Bankers of America filed suit Wednesday against the National Credit Union Administration, claiming the agency's recent overhaul of its member business lending rules violate two different laws.

Fintech is transforming consumer financial services, but automation and data innovation can also help banks meet their growing regulatory demands.

USAA has updated its digital platforms to give customers more control over unexpected declines on large transactions and access to service representatives on its website.

BancorpSouth in Tupelo, Miss., has hired Kyle Gilliam as president of its equipment finance and leasing division.

Meta Financial Group in Sioux Falls, S.D., has promoted Cynthia Smith, its head of technology and operations, to chief operating officer.

Under pressure from regulators and consumer advocates, brick-and-mortar banks are now offering overdraft-free accounts. But online-only and community banks still have them beat as the type and number of fees associated with big-bank checking have multiplied.

Credit unions in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas closed branches as a precaution, but no reports of major damage.

The sheer amount of data created in recent years has exploded, leaving banks with a tremendous amount of data sets to mine through. Community banks need to utilize analytics to stay competitive with their big-bank peers.

State regulators' resistance to the idea of a national fintech charter is not surprising, but state-by-state regulation imposes heavy burdens that reverse the cost savings and expanded reach available through fintech.

In the age of big data, banks should be king. After all, which industry knows more about people and how they behave than the holders of deposits? But all that data is useless without leaders who know how to effectively analyze it. American Banker recently polled data and analytics chiefs at banks about the trials and tribulations of big data and the art of finding insightful information. Here are some of their responses.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s recent statements encouraging new bank applications are promising, but some barriers to new charters may remain inside the FDIC and we are still waiting for the first de novo of 2016.

AltaPacific Bancorp in Santa Rosa, Calif., has agreed to buy Commerce Bank of Temecula Valley in Murrieta, Calif.