Small business

Bank of the West in San Francisco has hired three development officers for Small Business Administration loans.

FirstMerit in Akron, Ohio, has reached an agreement with Paychex to provide payroll-processing services.

Marketplace lenders and other alternative finance companiesshould be perceived not as a threat, but rather as a group of pioneers opening up opportunities for those banks that elect to buy, build or partner in this market.

The global loan platforms present an extreme example of the ongoing clash between the fast-moving financial technology sphere and the staid world of financial regulation.

As the Small Business Administration's flagship 7(a) loan program breaks records, its other loan program stagnates. Advocates for so-called 504 loans hope a drive to permit CRE refinancing will inject new life.

A federal judge has overturned a New York City law that would have required banks to make new disclosures regarding their investments in local communities.