Commercial lending

Arthur Levitt, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1993 to 2001, will become an adviser to the marketplace lender Social Finance.

Orchard Platform, which provides services to institutional investors in the marketplace lending industry, has raised $30 million in additional funding.

Banks are going to keep cranking out loans at a brisk pace for the foreseeable future, according to the heads of three Chicago-area banks. That could spell trouble if the competition leads to reckless credit decisions.

What does a small bank do when a much larger bank encroaches on its home turf?

Brayden McCarthy of Fundera contends that unfair practices are commonplace in the online lending industry, and that self-regulation is needed to protect small-business borrowers.

The marketplace lender CommonBond announced that it has raised $35 million, which it plans to use to expand its operations across the country.

The San Francisco company hopes to lower its costs by driving out human intervention as much as possible. To get there, it has made the counterintuitive decision to locate its operations staff in one of the country’s most expensive cities.

Lead Bank in Kansas City, Mo., is poised to open a special branch designed for millennial entrepreneurs. Not only can these commercial customers bank in the techie, garage-like space, but they can actually work there, too.

Comerica has named Peter Sefzik market president for Texas, effective immediately. Sefzik succeeded Patrick Faubion, who was promoted to executive vice president of Comerica's Business Bank in July.

Iberiabank in Lafayette, La., has named Rick Pullum its Orlando, Fla., market president.

Marketplace lenders seek to disrupt traditional financial services with online platforms that connect borrowers to investors. But in real estate, this burgeoning sector has taken an approach that seeks to coexist with, rather than supplant, the traditional mortgage market.

Comerica has hired John Buchanan as its executive vice president of legal affairs.

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions is calling for stricter regulation of marketplace lending.

Suncrest Bank is hoping that its team of experienced executives, combined with organic growth and acquisitions, will help more than double its assets in the next few years.

As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finishes regulations dealing with mortgage data reporting, a similar set of requirements for small business loans is waiting in the wings.

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In a rapidly growing market outside the purview of the Truth in Lending Act or state usury caps, online lenders' rates and fees can be next to impossible to compare.

A growing number of fintech startups are appealing to the sensibilities of millennials by meeting social missions and, in some cases, by tying the amount of business they generate to the amount they give back to charity or to their customers.

Wall Street banks are scaling back their role in supporting debt sales that have helped online lending companies double their originations every year since 2010.

CIT Group in New York has formed a joint venture with the private equity firm TPG Capital to provide commercial lending.