Commercial lending

The Nusenda Credit Union Foundation, which is being honored with a Wegner Award, works with its partners to find creative solutions to unmet needs, including its mircolending program, Co-op Capital.

The upstart lenders have been chipping away at credit cards’ consumer-lending dominance by offering fixed-rate loans with predictable repayment plans. Now the card giants are fighting back.

Until now, Toyota Financial Services has offered banking services to its dealers. But as it builds its digital bank, that will soon change, according to its newly appointed chief information officer.

Events like the recent government shutdown present opportunities for banks to help customers when they need it most.

Recent history shows how dangerous these short-term products can be without appropriate guidelines in place.

The bank will fund community development financial institutions that lend to women-owned businesses backed by the fashion designer's foundation.

Pacific Mercantile and P2Bi are collaborating on a program to help businesses that are not ready for traditional bank financing.

Karen Mills, who led the Small Business Administration from 2009 to 2013, is joining the Eastern Bank spinoff Numerated as an adviser and investor as it tries to bring online-lending technology to community banks.

The industry cheered the bureau’s proposed repeal of its ability-to-repay requirement, but another part of the rule — on account debit restrictions — was left intact, and some companies aren’t ready to comply.

Brick-and-mortar retail isn’t dead yet. Though the trend of retailers closing stores in the face of stiff competition from e-merchants is certainly troubling to commercial real estate lenders, it would be a mistake to conclude that all retail loans are risky. Here's a look at which ones are the safest and, potentially, the scariest.