Commercial lending

First Connecticut Bancorp in Farmington has committed to making $5 million in small-business loans over the next year.

Questions swirling around LendingClub's leadership shakeup this week are threatening to compound a concern already weighing on its stock: Will investors keep snapping up its loans?

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said marketplace lenders might find that sources of funding evaporate during a downturn.

Key factors point to marketplace lenders rebounding from their recent setbacks and continuing their growth.

In the weeks leading up to the resignation of LendingClub's chief executive officer, investment bank Jefferies Group asked the company to bolster its disclosures to borrowers, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Industry representatives swiftly rejected the Treasury Department's assertion that new legislation is needed to protect small-business owners.

If alternative small-business lenders don't get engaged in the regulatory dialogue, they risk letting a few bad apples determine their fate.

Wells Fargo is starting a program to offer small businesses online loans in as soon as one day, targeting territory occupied by On Deck and LendingClub.

The Treasury Department on Tuesday capped off a nearly yearlong inquiry into the burgeoning marketplace lending industry with a policy paper that recommends increased transparency and customer protections while also highlighting the sector's potential for expanding credit access.

It is imperative for regulators and lawmakers to approach the online small business loan market with care and an understanding of how these lenders expand access to credit.

State officials in California have asked top online lending firms a series of probing questions regarding their compliance with laws and regulations dealing with referral fees, bank partnerships, fair lending and other sensitive issues.

We should all understand now that pure gain-on-sale marketplace lending businesses, like LendingClub, are inherently unstable.

The abrupt resignation of the firm's founder and CEO, under a cloud, seems likely to fan investors' growing fears about the marketplace lending sector. It could also hasten regulatory scrutiny.

Boston Private Financial Holdings is expanding its footprint in California, opening a new office in Los Angeles on June 1. The company will have 35 offices nationwide, including 14 on the West Coast.

Fed up with the hassles of applying for a multitude of state licenses and relying on bank partners, fintech firms are increasingly interested in applying for a national bank charter — and federal regulators are considering ways to accommodate them.

State Bank Financial in Atlanta just hired a lending team that will take its SBA lending operation to the next level. The moves comes as the SBA reports a record number of 7(a) loans.

LendingClub Corp. founder and Chief Executive Officer Renaud Laplanche resigned after an internal review of loan sales to a single investor. President Scott Sanborn will be acting CEO.

Square's practice of using its merchant transaction data for risk analysis may seem innovative, but other agile specialists — including Intuit — are finding ways to use new data streams to limit risk and deliver funds to borrowers.

A proposed class-action lawsuit against LendingClub threatens investors in bonds backed by its loans and similar debt even if the plaintiff loses, Moody's Investors Service said Thursday.

Loan growth at several Boston banks, including many former mutuals, is higher than the national average. Still, bankers are closely watching for any indication that a bubble is forming.