Small business

The findings from the California Department of Business Oversight, which also included data on interest rates and delinquencies, could be a precursor to new state regulations.

BlueVine, an online business lender based in Palo Alto, Calif., is branching into unsecured lending.

The payments pioneer is transforming its merchant cash advance into a business loan, a move that has significant legal and regulatory implications.

Huntington Bancshares has partnered with the owner of the NBA's Detroit Pistons to provide $25 million in financial support in Flint, Mich., in response to the city's drinking water crisis.

As online business lenders grow in number, size and prominence, a new trade group is being launched to represent their interests in Washington.

A program recently started in New York helps entrepreneurs improve their business plans and cash flow before sending them to a bank. The nonprofit lender behind the program, meanwhile, hopes to boost small-business borrowers' credit scores and lower their rates.

Online lender StreetShares' strategy is based on the premise that borrowers are more likely to repay when they have a genuine personal connection to the lender.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp in Massachusetts invested in technology to beef up its small-business lending, an area ripe for the picking by alternative lenders.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco is exploring ways to use $40 million it received as part of a private-label securities settlement to support small-business development and job creation to help future homebuyers.

Ray Grace, North Carolina's banking commissioner, believes federal bank regulators should embrace charters for banks dedicated to innovation. Doing so, he said, would help the banking industry secure its spot as a "laboratory for change."

Traditional financial institutions are often seen as the outdated rival to new disruptors, but the idea that a bank can't be a marketplace lender, and vice versa, is a myth.

A significant gap remains between the credit scores of women-owned companies and those owned by men, according to a Biz2Credit.com survey.

A new survey from seven regional Federal Reserve banks found that many small businesses are going online to access credit. But even when they are approved, applicants often end up dissatisfied because the loans carry high interest rates or have unfavorable repayment terms.

More than 200 small banks across the country will be able to offer online loans to their small-business customers as part of a new partnership announced Tuesday.

There are good, bad and ugly stories about how marijuana entrepreneurs deal with taxes and other financial management issues while having little access to banking services.

Delinquencies are rising among the sector's less creditworthy borrowers, which is contributing to smaller returns for investors. This sets up the first major test for an industry that blossomed during a period of unusually low defaults.

Carolina Alliance Bank in Spartanburg, S.C., has exited the Small Business Lending Fund program.

Shares in the online small-business lender plunged Tuesday after the firm's 2016 revenue guidance fell short of expectations. New details about the firm's plans to provide its technology to big banks did nothing to stanch the bleeding.

OnDeck Capital in New York reported a $5.1 million loss in the fourth quarter as revenue failed to keep pace with rising expenses.

The terms "peer-to-peer" and "marketplace" lending are often used interchangeably to define all manner of loans made through the Internet. The reality, though, is that aside from lacking storefronts, the many firms now operating in this arena have little in common with one another. Here's a guide to help tell them apart.