Commercial lending

Despite their recent growth, too few marketplace lenders are reporting data to the consumer reporting agencies, which could negative repercussions on the financial system.

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.

SunTrust Banks in Atlanta has committed $50 million to a credit facility for the online small-business lender Credibly.

Atlantic Capital Bancshares in Atlanta has formed a lending division to focus on the emerging film and entertainment industry in Georgia.

WASHINGTON — The current financial regulatory structure is ill-suited for innovation, but a legislative effort to fix that may still be a long way off, according to top House Republican lawmakers.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is urging banks to perform due diligence and identify potential risks before conducting business with marketplace lenders.

OnDeck Capital, an online small-business lender in New York, has added a former E-Trade Financial executive to its board, as another director plans to leave.

The marijuana industry is still hampered by its own banking crisis, but the rigidity of federal laws is not stopping all advances in financial services for the sector.

CoBiz Financial in Denver postponed a conference call to discuss its fourth-quarter earnings, after an $11.2 million loan was downgraded and placed into nonaccrual status.

College Ave Student Loans, an online lender in Wilmington, Del., announced Thursday that it has raised $20 million in equity financing.

TCF Financial in Wayzata, Minn., reported higher profits on lower provision costs and a pickup in lending in the fourth quarter.

Bank executives have faced relentless questions about their energy-sector exposure during fourth-quarter earnings calls this month, as oil has bobbed above and below $30 a barrel. They are taking more drastic actions to contain losses, but it still might not be enough.

The energy sector downturn took a big bite out of quarterly earnings at Cullen/Frost Bankers in San Antonio.

Enterprise Financial Services in Clayton, Mo., has acquired a $21 million loan portfolio as part of its formation of an aircraft financing unit.

Ag lenders enjoyed solid credit metrics and an increase in farms loans in 2015. Those results could come under pressure this year, requiring bankers to become more vigilant in talking to their agricultural clients.

Regulators and alarmists are targeting a key source of financing on which some of the best-known American companies rely.

It is too early in the Providence, R.I., bank's turnaround plan to buy another bank, CEO Bruce Van Saun says. Instead, he would rather invest in acquiring commercial, mortgage and other loan officers who can feed revenue while he tries to make the bank more efficient.

A new class of fintech startups is using loan applicants' social networks to determine creditworthiness as the banking industry debates the merits of alternate underwriting methods.

Associated Banc-Corp in Green Bay, Wis., reported fourth-quarter earnings of $42.8 million, a 12.2% drop from a year earlier as the company set aside a significantly higher amount of money to address potential problems in its energy portfolio.

The collapse in oil prices hammered fourth-quarter profits at Hancock Holding as the Gulfport, Miss., sharply boosted its loan-loss provision address weakness in its energy loan book.