In South Africa, parents who default on school fees are increasingly being turned over to debt collectors to help debt ridden high schools.

Calls with analysts to discuss the fourth-quarter results were dominated by questions about energy exposure, efficiency and the growing worry about when the next credit cycle may begin. Still, some banks managed to get in a few thoughts about how technology is reshaping their businesses.

Imagine offering a borrower a better rate or a bigger loan because a handful of his buddies say he is an upstanding guy who they are so confident will pay back his loan that they are willing to cover a portion of it if he doesn't.

There have been many reports of bitcoin's demise, but the fate of one currency doesn't eliminate the many use cases that virtual currency could still address in payments, according to Evan Duffield, a Phoenix-based developer and founder of the virtual currency Dash.

The Secured It Card requires a security deposit but also offers cash-back rewards and other perks normally associated with Discover's traditional cards.

Farmers Capital Bank in Frankfort, Ky., plans to extinguish $15 million of subordinated debt. The $1.8 billion-asset company expects to record a $4.1 million pretax gain during the first quarter from the transaction.

Bryn Mawr Bank in Pennsylvania reported a quarterly loss after terminating its pension plan.

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.

Randy Peterson, the chief executive of Bank of Eufaula in Oklahoma, was shot and killed on Thursday by a robber. He was 64.

The card issuer, buoyed by employment gains and its partnership with the megaretailer Amazon, is bullish on its growth prospects for 2016.

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.

The ouster of Cardinal Bankshares' chief executive helped set into motion events that led to the Floyd, Va., company’s merger with another banking company.

The American Bankers Association has gone public with its issues with a plan to require banks to record loan-loss provisions when they originate a loan. Bankers are worried that the rule will eventually force smaller institutions to use costly modeling programs to comply.

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.

Independent Bank Group in McKinney, Texas, has exited the Small Business Lending Fund program.

John Kanas, BankUnited's CEO, said the business never turned a profit, and there were no indications that it would. The company, meanwhile, remains committed to other residential lending operations while focusing on expanding its other businesses across Florida.

PacWest Bancorp in Los Angeles said its October acquisition of the tech-focused lender Square 1 helped its fourth-quarter profit rise 1.2% from a year earlier to $71.8 million.

Ocwen Financial Corp. will pay $2 million to settle charges that it misstated its financial results in valuing complex mortgage assets, the Securities and Exchange Commission said this week.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency may face legislation or a lawsuit in the near future as it tries to force captive insurance companies to exit the Federal Home Loan Bank System.

Western Alliance Bancorp. in Phoenix reported higher fourth-quarter profit on higher commercial and construction lending and improved fee income.