Small business

New models are emerging, including joint initiatives between established banks and new alternative lending players, as well as those incorporating blockchain and cryptocurrencies, writes Eugene Green from WishFinance.

Commercial customers, including small businesses, seem ready to pay up to shift to faster, more sophisticated electronic invoicing and payments, and enterprising banks that provide them the technology to do so could find it lucrative.

SMBs are choosing virtual cards as their preferred form of electronic payments because they solve many of their payment challenges, while also helping them avoid the costs associated with custom software solutions designed for larger businesses, writes Blair Jeffery, COO of Noventis.

The Small Business Credit Availability Act aims to double the debt-to-equity ratio for business development companies. Increased leverage could spur more lending to small and midsize borrowers.

Along with crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending, cryptocurrency can improve access to payments, credit and other financial services for SMEs, writes Eugene Green, CEO and founder of WishFinance.

The pilot could help the agency improve its image after past criticism of slow responses to catastrophes.

A decision to slash the equity required for most change-in-ownership loans could help the small-business lending program top its recent record.

The online small-business lender, which has been cutting expenses, said it is on track to achieve profitability in the fourth quarter.

Top banking executives called the Republican tax plan an important first step toward tax reform and economic stimulus, but questions immediately arose about whether trade-offs and complexities in the bill would undercut it.

More people are making a case for regulators to step in, saying banks’ lack of leadership diversity is a risk that they have failed to resolve on their own. There is one very surprising thing about the recent wave of sexual harassment allegations. What kind of program will help women advance? The answer might be one that is for the men.

TD Bank has pledged $3 million to provide credit counseling to small-business owners. The hope is that those owners will use commercial loans to replace personal credit cards and home equity as their primary forms of business funding.

It’s not just consumers who are worried about identity theft. For the millions of business owners who rely on their personal credit to finance operations, damage to credit scores could have dire consequences.

Live Oak Bancshares is used to finding ways to make small-business loans, but its new M&A operation was formed after two bankers pitched the plan to Live Oak's management.

Providers leave out a majority of lower-volume companies that would happily accept an electronic payment or card, writes Sue Ellen Hodnot, vice president of sales for the west region at Nvoicepay.

Wells Fargo, PNC and others are finding that the web seminar is an effective way to promote themselves through advice and useful content aimed at consumers and business clients.

In the string of scandals over how women are treated in the tech sector, SoFi is particularly egregious. Reese Witherspoon tackles the trouble with ambition for women. Plus, Edith Cooper and Lori Beer.

The cross-border payments specialist has developed a workaround to comply with a format that requires Chinese characters for certain transactions.

Shopping cart technology, digital payments, advertising platforms and global order fulfillment allow new brands to compete on a global scale, writes Tony Holbrook, vice president of marketing and commerce at Ingram Micro Commerce & Fulfillment.

The $2.6 trillion-asset bank's recent commitment to digital lending augurs the development of a two-tier market for borrowers who want fast access to cash.

When brewery software provider OpHouse strated to grow, it turned to its CEO's connections in the tech incubator community to find a new payments gateway