Sean Sposito

Social media is great for marketing. For customer authentication, not so much.

As the brokerage is learning with Joe Ricketts, even a casual connection to a founder or former CEO can carry reputational risks in the social media age.

Their portfolios are comparable in size. They are in similar businesses. But HSBC Holdings Plc has a deal to sell its $30 billion of private-label credit cards assets to Capital One Financial Corp., while Citigroup Inc. has been holding the bag on $45 billion of retailers' credit card loans for more than two years.

The Federal Reserve is holding short-term rates near the "zero bound," but some deposit franchises have moved closer to the mark than others.

When Matt Weidler made the long walk from his desk to the automated teller machine and realized he had forgotten his ATM card yet again, he decided the best thing to do was to reinvent the ATM.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nonbank that banks love to hate -- and fear -- is at it again. The retailer next week will begin rolling out automated versions of its MoneyCenter offices, which provide a range of financial services to shoppers.

Visa Inc. said its acquisition of the South African mobile payments company Fundamo will help it serve more underbanked consumers abroad. The San Francisco payments network said it would pay about $110 million for the Cape Town company.

MasterCard said its SecureCode payment verification system experienced disruptions temporarily Wednesday as part of an attack that also took out its main website by overwhelming it with high traffic.