Commercial lending

Avant, an online consumer lender based in Chicago, is shoring up its funding base with a pair of new transactions.

This year federal and state regulators have started to pay closer attention to the rapidly evolving online-lending sector — particularly online small-business lending. What follows is a look at eight key players in the debate over how to regulate this emerging industry.

State-sponsored green banks in New York and elsewhere provide a valuable service as "party planners" that bring developers and private lenders together on alternative energy projects.

United Community and Wells Fargo are among the banks building platforms to lend to senior-care facilities. Demographics suggest the business should grow significantly in coming years.

Online alternative financing can be an efficient source of capital for small businesses, but it can also be predatory, especially to unaware and inexperienced borrowers.

A federal judge in California approved a $2.4 million settlement in a class- action lawsuit against Social Finance, a San Francisco-based online lender.

Many energy lenders are paring back exposure to the energy sector, creating opportunities for banks like First Horizon and Bank of the Ozarks.

Small-business owners are struggling to understand the cost of loans sold by marketplace lenders. To remedy this, the industry must embrace a disclosure box that includes these five principles.

Square Inc. is joining with restaurant technology startup Upserve to offer loans to eating establishments, extending credit for the first time to businesses that operate outside of its own payments processing system.

The emergence of lenders that have no real connection to a geographic area prompts questions over how the Community Reinvestment Act's "good neighbor" policy can continue.