Economy

SIFMA approval could bring new competitors and housing finance reform; number of applications rose but amount borrowed still lags other firms.

Direct blockchain transfer of relief goods can help organizations navigate government bureaucracy quickly, avoid the potential mishandling of funds by intermediaries, and expedite aid to exactly where it is most needed, according to David Uhryniak, a blockchain services leader at Crowe LLP, and Brian T. Zygmunt, a partner at Crowe.

Readers consider Square's bid to become an industrial loan company, weigh the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s oversight of brokered deposits and debate reforms to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The bank will fund community development financial institutions that lend to women-owned businesses backed by the fashion designer's foundation.

Adding new mobile payment methods and integrated platforms can take some of the sting out of processing issues for small to medium sized businesses, according to Tina Hsiao, vice president of risk and chargeback operations at WePay.

Karen Mills, who led the Small Business Administration from 2009 to 2013, is joining the Eastern Bank spinoff Numerated as an adviser and investor as it tries to bring online-lending technology to community banks.

The revisions would emphasize activities-based regulation over labeling individual firms as systemically risky.

The Federal Reserve voted Wednesday to keep the countercyclical capital buffer at its current level of zero, ending some speculation that the board could be looking at a possible increase.

The central bank is limiting the use of its qualitative objection in this year’s stress tests, the agency announced Wednesday.

After converting to a mutual savings bank in 2013, the former CU is set to become a fully stock-owned company.