Commercial lending

In a letter Monday to Comptroller Thomas Curry, Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., registered their strong opposition to the concept of the charter, which would allow certain types of fintech companies to avoid state licensing requirements by obtaining a limited-purpose national bank charter.

A little more than two years after Community National Bank in Great Neck, N.Y., agreed to sell itself, Stuart H. Lubow, its former chairman and CEO, has jumped back into banking.

A little more than two years after Community National Bank in Great Neck, N.Y., agreed to sell itself, Stuart H. Lubow, its former chairman and CEO, has jumped back into banking.

Both banks and fintech firms have a lot of questions about the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's proposed new charter, including exactly how the agency will ensure nonbanks don't get a leg up on bank competitors.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's decision to offer a special-purpose charter for fintech firms may entice more players than expected, including mortgage lenders and even some payday lending shops.

Even in a digital era, human connections still matter. That is one big disadvantage for fintech startups and increasingly for banks as customers stop making regular branch visits. So it is instructive to hear SoFi's thinking on how to overcome this challenge. It is trying some unorthodox tactics to better understand the people behind the data and to create meaningful connections with them.

From Dimon's campaign against earnings guidance to the bottom-line implications of rising rates, here are more of our favorite stories of the year. (See part I here.)

Kenneth Mahon, the new CEO of Dime Community Bank, wants to reduce the 152-year-old institution's multifamily exposure by diversifying into other asset classes. But finding new business amid already fierce competition could be an immense challenge for Dime — and other community banks — in 2017.

The Rural Housing Service is expanding its manufactured housing loan guarantee program to include more refinancings of used or existing manufactured homes.

The commercial-and-industrial loan space is overheated, higher rates could stifle mortgage refinancings, and subprime auto delinquencies are on the rise. Bankers could be fighting these fires and more in the new year.