Commercial lending

SunTrust Banks in Atlanta increased reserves for downgraded energy loans in the first quarter, but it was still able to produce solid revenue and earnings growth.

Capital continues to flow freely into financial technology ventures, many of which are repositioning themselves as aspiring partners for banks rather than would-be disruptors.

The Paris Agreement on limiting the rise in global temperatures opens up new lending opportunities related to low-carbon projects while highlighting an array of new risks for financial institutions.

Lending Club said Thursday that it has hired Sameer Gulati, formerly of McKinsey & Co., to be its chief operations officer and promoted another executive, Scott Sanborn, to president. Both are newly created positions at the nonbank lender.

LendingClub Corp., a pioneer of online marketplace lending, said it raised rates for borrowers again to reflect a gloomier economic outlook and worse-than-expected performance for some of its riskiest loans.

Higher compensation and credit costs drove down quarterly profits at Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati, offsetting revenue gains.

Citizens Financial Group in Providence, R.I., said Thursday that its first-quarter earnings increased 7% from the same period last year, to $223 million, as strong commercial loan growth offset a dip in fee income. Earnings per share increased 8%, to 41 cents.

For years, banks in the Midwest looked beyond the region to increase revenue and profit. Today, the area is starting to bounce back, allowing many of those banks to thrive by focusing on their core markets.

An online student loan refinancing business that was recently spun off from a Virginia bank has been rebranded as Purefy Inc.

Research published in 2014 found that just 18% of U.S. checking account holders pay 91% of all bank overdraft fees.