Peer-to-peer lending

The online lender’s president, Steve Allocca, shares how the company weathered scandal and hints at future plans to grow its product set.

Banks may need to do more to help small businesses after a hurricane, flood or other calamity as those firms tend to favor nonbank lenders after an emergency for a number of reasons, according to research by four regional Federal Reserve banks.

The state’s banking regulator said that the online consumer lender made over 46,000 small loans to Bay State consumers without a license. The company surrendered its license to the state regulator as part of a 2011 consent order.

Their partnership aims to make it easier for community banks and other institutional investors to vet loans that they could buy from online lenders.

How new developments on many fronts are going to affect the banking business in the coming year and beyond — and what they can do to prepare.