Economy

Radius Bank in Boston has recruited a team to lead a national push into Small Business Administration lending. Among the new hires is Diane Gallion, a former executive at The Bancorp in Delaware, who will be national director of government-guaranteed lending at Radius.

Homes owned by single men are more valuable and appreciate faster than properties owned by single women, according to an analysis from RealtyTrac.

The bank's new low-down-payment mortgage, an alternative to FHA loans, dispenses with the complex qualification requirements that have hampered recent efforts with low down payments by Fannie and Freddie.

The Federal Housing Administration's loan sales are drawing more attention after a recent critical report said it was resulting in vulnerable borrowers losing their homes.

Recent legislative proposals to make piecemeal changes to the government-sponsored enterprises could set broader GSE reform on the wrong path.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is telling lenders that down payment assistance programs still qualify for FHA backing despite concerns raised last year by HUD's inspector general.

TCF Financial in Minnesota has launched a set of products targeting low-income customers. The company, which has closed a fifth of its branches in recent years, hopes underbanked clients will boost traffic at its remaining locations.

As a top Republican lawmaker nears the release of a plan aimed at rolling back and replacing the Dodd-Frank Act, bankers are being cautious about offering any support, fearing it may open the door to changes they oppose.

As more mobile apps and businesses push plastic payments to the background, they also give prepaid card accounts a chance to reclaim the spotlight.

Better coordination and information sharing needs to be fostered between financial regulators worldwide in order to reduce risks posed by so-called shadow banking sector, a group of international supervisors said Wednesday.

The Obama administration and an independent federal banking agency are advising the Supreme Court not to review a lower-court ruling that has roiled the marketplace lending sector and caused consternation throughout much of the consumer finance industry.

FHFA Director Mel Watt also reiterated concerns regarding insurance companies and large bank members, saying that some Home Loan Banks have large exposures to a few individual members.

The due-diligence firms that vet loans before securitization are erring on the side of caution when assessing the risk to investors of liability from the new consumer mortgage disclosure rules.

CenterState in Florida and Union Savings in Connecticut are adding specialists to their retail locations at a time when many other banks are cutting back or have been relying heavily on universal bankers.

During the ascension of marketplace lending, banks responded to the competitive threat in several different ways. Now some banks are better positioned than others to take advantage of the online sector's recent woes.

In guidance on banks' resolution plans, regulators effectively have made important policy decisions about liquidity transformation that were not subject to notice and comment.

Robots aren't yet coming to take over, but they will be taking orders — and MasterCard payments — at a handful of Pizza Hut locations in Asia.

WASHINGTON — The House passed a bill by a voice vote Monday that will make it easier for mortgage originators to take a new job across state lines or move from a federally regulated bank to a nonbank lending shop.

WASHINGTON — Seven financial trade groups announced Monday that they are banding together to push legislation that would extend banklike data security standards to retailers and nonbank businesses.

Joseph Fellerman, a former special adviser at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., was one of the first people at the agency to research systemic resolution. Now, the agency is better prepared to handle the next big crash, he told the American Banker in a sit-down interview.