Coronavirus

The program is intended to aid businesses hit hard by pandemic-induced lockdowns, but lenders are lobbying to have the rules relaxed to help owners of stores and offices damaged by recent riots and looting.

The changes being sought would benefit both small businesses and banks, which would avoid the cost of servicing many low-yielding loans.

Members of both parties raised concerns that the requirements for participating in the Municipal Liquidity Facility and Main Street Lending Program are too restrictive to benefit smaller localities and certain midsize firms.

Avivah Litan, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, explains the evolving role blockchain has taken during the coronavirus pandemic. Blockchain, originally developed for use with bitcoin, provides a way to bring trust and order to the chaos of the current crisis, but it's no silver bullet.

An interagency notice meant to encourage lenders to offer small consumer loans also provides federal agencies too much say on what constitutes “reasonable” pricing.

The global coronavirus outbreak has up-ended daily life for many consumers, including where they shop and how they pay for things. The U.K. is no exception, as issues of health and hygiene have now been introduced as important factors when it comes to both planned and impulse shopping.

The funds will be used to support housing, job training and aid for small businesses in communities that have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Brian Brooks says coronavirus mandates, such as masks, could potentially harm banks; some recipients of the Treasury prepaid cards don’t believe they are for real.

With no way of knowing just how many borrowers will need the mods after the coronavirus forbearance period ends, lenders are deploying artificial intelligence and servicing protocols to tame the ferocious piles of paperwork awaiting them.

Loan volumes were already slowing before the pandemic. New restrictions and changes in consumer behavior are likely to make growth in this portfolio even harder.

In addition to Apple and Google delivering smartphone apps that would alert users that they are near a person infected by the virus, various other government agencies and businesses are developing that type of technology to address the pandemic's spread.

The rescue bill enabled banks to protect loans in forbearance from an immediate hit to a borrower’s credit report, but experts say affected consumers may have trouble getting loans after the pandemic ends.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks took the extraordinary step of wading into the debate over when it was appropriate to reopen businesses.

With the pandemic putting Plexiglas in short supply, Joe McDonald called up a local source: a former classmate.

Periods of significant loan defaults are tough on banks and force unpleasant choices. Here are steps to evaluate collateral in such uncertain times.

In the U.K., many policy researchers predict that the economic fallout of the pandemic in the U.S. could change attitudes toward the idea of basic income on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Federal Reserve set up a liquidity facility to help banks meet demand for emergency small-business loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, but it's gone largely unused.

It took a global pandemic to get many baby boomers to bank online. Lenders have taken notice.

The coronavirus pandemic was an unexpected catalyst for contactless cards, and another no-contact payment method is poised for growth as well: voice payments.

Since March, issuers have tightened their criteria for opening new accounts and closed millions of existing ones in hopes of avoiding waves of defaults.