Commercial lending

Once known as peer-to-peer, online marketplace lending grew phenomenally and evolved rapidly in 2014, as capital flooded in from institutional investors and traditional bankers sat up and took notice.

Mortgage lending, particularly for bigger banks, cooled some in October as home buying season ended. Meanwhile, loan pricing deteriorated again, showing that lenders are still cutting rates to land the best credits.

LendingTree already facilitated small-business loans through its online marketplace that funds consumer and other loans; its web portal opened Wednesday exclusively shops small-business loans to individual and institutional investors.

Lawmakers in state capitals across the country are increasingly intrigued by arguments for public banks. With the financial crisis fueling disdain for the banking industry in general, some view these banks as an appealing alternative to a system they consider to be broken. But Eric Hardmeyer, president and chief executive of the Bank of North Dakota, is not so sure.

Each of the banks with the largest exposure to Donald Trump has taken some piece of his assets, leaving just enough left over so that Trump still has a stake in using his public stature to generate wealth.