Economy

DNB Financial in Downington, Pa., has formed a business banking services division.

Critics say the SEC uses too liberal a hand in granting waivers that allow firms that violate securities laws to be exempted from certain penalties. But the agency needs these waivers to adjust rules designed to be overly broad.

Europe is home to many innovative and disruptive banks, telcos and technology firms. Some of these are deploying mobile wallets that have the potential to span the entire continent.

IMGCAP(1)]

FICO and two data partners are testing a credit score based on alternative data that could help banks take smarter risks on borrowers with limited credit histories, but bankers' cost concerns and adherence to traditional methods present big hurdles.

As digital technology has reshaped the acquiring business, some of the industry's biggest names are making splashy investments in mobile payments and merchant marketing.

Wells Fargo's quality-control procedures will play a key role in a closely watched mortgage-fraud case that could go to trial this summer. Federal prosecutors are using the bank's internal reports to allege its executives knew about deficient loans.

The fight over the Dodd-Frank Act's $50 billion threshold will determine whether some banks get a respite from tougher rules, but it may also shape how the industry and lawmakers think about threats to the financial system more broadly.

At a time when many independent sales organizations feel threatened by disruptors like Square and Groupon, which sell directly to merchants, Verifone is relying more on ISOs to extend its offerings to smaller stores.

Modern payment terminals are streamlining the update process for merchants by enabling instant updates of their capabilities, and U.S. Bank is taking advantage of this technology to rapidly get new offerings to market.

Mel Watt, the former North Carolina lawmaker, has earned praise for his cautious approach to guiding the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But critics say he is making it even more difficult to craft a system without them.

Innovation is not a competition. If both incumbents and startups in the fintech market would just accept that, mobile wallets and broader payments applications would have already been realized, according to Jonathan Vaux, executive director of Visa Europe.

The Securities and Exchange Commission just gave unregistered banks a way to quickly raise capital at a fortuitous time — and marketplace lending platforms a way to reclaim their peer-to-peer roots.

The new digital currency entrepreneurs are stripping the bitcoins from Bitcoin, building new iterations of the underlying blockchain technology without clinging to any digital currency token.

After releasing successive studies on the payday industry over the past two years, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is finally set to unveil Thursday sweeping proposals that could fundamentally change the business of short-term loans and other products

Senate Democrats have now joined the fight over the Financial Stability Oversight Council's designation process, calling for "systemically important" firms to be able to shed the label.

The Justice Department's Clifford White is putting all mortgage servicers on notice that they too will be punished if they flout bankruptcy rules.

Google's planned integration of bill pay and presentment with its immensely popular Gmail service could quickly scoop away one of the stickiest offerings of online banking sites.

The leader of the Senate Banking Committee said he'd rather leave Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in U.S. conservatorship than pass a bill that includes explicit government support for the housing market.

Lendio, an online lending marketplace for small business, raised $20.5 million of equity capital in a recently completed funding round.