Banking

PayPal co-founder and technology investor Peter Thiel is part of a $3.5 million investment in former PayPal executive Eric M. Jackson's cloud-based business technology startup.

A number of community banks have gotten into government-backed small-business lending by buying firms or poaching talent. While the business seems lucrative now, there are concerns that too many banks may be jumping into the pool.

Defaults, repossessions and auctions were down 3% last year compared with 2014 and down 62% from a peak in 2010, according to a report released today by RealtyTrac.

TotalBank in Miami said it has promoted Jay Pelham to president, succeeding Luis de la Aguilera, who left the company in December to lead U.S. Century Bank in Doral, Fla.

Labor-intensive cross-marketing programs, which were beyond the scope of small marketing departments, are suddenly feasible thanks to automation.

Mackinac Financial in Manistique, Mich., has agreed to buy First National Bank of Eagle River in Wisconsin.

Overlapping missions and jurisdictions are fueling competition between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission, according to former officials at both agencies.

Bank of America Corp., the second-biggest U.S. lender, said profit rose 9.4 percent on gains in fees and declines in expenses.

Idaho Community Action Network (ICAN) on Monday protested what it calls a lack of action by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding enacting national standards for payday loan operations and ending uncapped loans.

ACA International filed a lawsuit in July to challenge the Federal Communications Commission’s Declaratory Ruling concerning the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. On Friday, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the FCC filed its answering brief to the case, titled ACA International, et al. v. FCC and U.S.

Still facing revenue challenges, Regions, PNC and U.S. Bank vowed to reduce overhead in 2016. The cuts are less about bolstering short-term returns than funding investments in cutting-edge technologies or new products and services to remain competitive.

Overlapping missions and jurisdictions are fueling competition between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission, according to former officials at both agencies.

Executives of Wells Fargo, especially CEO John Stumpf, have repeatedly insisted that the economy (and their bank) will be fine despite the collapse in oil prices. But now they are acknowledging efforts to think about what happens if they are wrong.

First Midwest Bancorp in Itasca, Ill., plans to close branches and sell unwanted real estate as customers shift to online banking.

Judging from the questions executives fielded about everything from the slowdown in China to the bank's energy exposure to the potential for another 2008-style crisis, worries are running high.

Biometrics are seen as the future of authentication, but some customers hesitate to ditch old ways. Picking the most practical pain points — like authenticating over the phone — is banks' best bet to win converts, observers say.

Citigroup, which pioneered the era of global megabanks before almost collapsing in the financial crisis, just slid behind Wells Fargo to rank as the nation's fourth-biggest lender.

The former chief marketing officer of the failed Mirae Bank in Los Angeles was arrested following an eight-count indictment stemming from alleged loan fraud.

A Michigan circuit court judge on Thursday banned Liquidation LLC and eight related companies from collecting on title loans that charge triple-digit interest rates.

Payne, who was promoted from director of corporate risk services, began her new role Jan. 1. She succeeded Dave Kling, who retired, the $18 billion-asset bank said.