Commercial lending

The San Rafael, Calif., company has stayed at roughly the same asset size for six years now, even though it has the capacity and desire to become much larger. The reasons speak to the competitiveness among lenders and the fickle nature of bank M&A.

A leading alternative lender has admitted that balance sheets and liquidity matter, and that it is a problem that such lenders need to keep growing lending volumes to prosper.

Prosper Marketplace on Monday announced a three-year agreement to offer financing to consumers making improvements to their homes through the website HomeAdvisor.com.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp in Massachusetts invested in technology to beef up its small-business lending, an area ripe for the picking by alternative lenders.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco is exploring ways to use $40 million it received as part of a private-label securities settlement to support small-business development and job creation to help future homebuyers.

Ray Grace, North Carolina's banking commissioner, believes federal bank regulators should embrace charters for banks dedicated to innovation. Doing so, he said, would help the banking industry secure its spot as a "laboratory for change."

Traditional financial institutions are often seen as the outdated rival to new disruptors, but the idea that a bank can't be a marketplace lender, and vice versa, is a myth.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

Startups, including one in the virtual currency field, have approached the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency about applying for banking charters, the agency's chief counsel said Thursday.

That is the message from North Carolina's banking commissioner and others who think the odds of preventing the rule are so low, and the amount of preparation needed to comply so great, that bankers should get real.