Small business

Wells Fargo has named Monica Cole to head middle-market banking for six Midwestern states.

Small businesses hungry for financing will quickly ditch a banking relationship if they are unhappy, according to a new J.D. Power report.

Bizfi, a New York-based online small-business finance company, announced the hiring of John Donovan as its new chief executive officer.

Alfred F. Kelly Jr. may be planning to run Visa his own way, but he will still face the same challenges his predecessor did. Here are a few of Visa's most immediate issues.

MCA remains a very active area — and has become fiercely competitive.

Remember how commercial and industrial lending was a hot item in the first half of the year? Not anymore. Blame election-year blues and a regulatory crackdown on CRE, regional bank executives said. The good news is that the hand-wringing over energy lending has largely subsided and banks are taking advantage of new opportunities in specialty lending.

California Bank of Commerce in Lafayette has hired a veteran credit administrator to help expand its small-business lending.

West Town Bancorp in Illinois has revved up its government-backed lending to small businesses, making it a good example of how community banks can outhustle big lenders in the quest for new sources of fee income.

The state of Washington halts a plan to update its 15-year-old member business loan rule while the federal regulation undergoes a legal challenge from the Independent Community Bankers of America.

The $21 billion-asset bank said Monday that it had hired John Gannon as group manager of Small Business Administration lending and Clyde Thompson as credit officer.