Commercial lending

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Traditional financial institutions are often seen as the outdated rival to new disruptors, but the idea that a bank can't be a marketplace lender, and vice versa, is a myth.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

Not only are widening credit spreads for both banks and the companies they lend to a red flag, but the financial sector is also feeling a hit from lower energy prices.

Prosper Marketplace is rebranding a personal-finance app that it acquired last year, a key part of the firm’s efforts to engage more frequently with its borrowers.

Banks reassess the borrowing capacity of oil exploration and production companies twice a year. The spring round of energy loan redeterminations is scheduled to begin in April. Will banks successfully use this process to de-risk?

Their top executives sure don't. Income streams are constrained in every business line, the economic picture remains murky, and big banks are talking about cutting more expenses again.