Hundreds of student-run bank branches and credit unions are opening in schools across the U.S. The school systems hope the branches will help student employees build up their resumes and make money while building financial literacy and providing families access to safe credit. Union Bank has three student-run branches in California, all located in low-income neighborhoods. The bank spends up to $200,000 to build each branch, staffs them with managers and pays student employees stipends and scholarships. Union views the branches as part of their community service and doesn't expect them to make money. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is now considering a special designation for school branches, which would pave the way for more. 

Chicago-based Urban Partnership Bank has announced it will add two new employees to its Detroit lending staff and raise its annual lending goal for small business, nonprofits and real-estate investors to $10 million. The bank has already loaned millions of dollars to Detroit-based businesses since opening its Midtown office in 2012. Borrowers in the city so far have included the owners of a 138-unit apartment building who needed a renovation loan and a snack-food manufacturer that revived an abandoned factory and will be creating 50 new jobs. "We're aggressively seeking community borrowers to build businesses and revitalize business districts in Detroit’s neighborhoods," said Brian Berg, Director of Communications for Urban Partnership.

A growing number of financial start-ups are being introduced, each hoping to usurp the giants of Wall Street by offering better services and lower fees. They see banking as a prime candidate for disruption because it tends to run on bloated, dated technology. Even applying for a loan can take weeks or months, an eternity in the on-demand world of tech innovation. But tech entrepreneurs have found starting a bank to be an arduous ordeal, made more ­difficult by a maze of regulatory requirements and drawn-out compliance processes. It also requires a tremendous amount of money.  These realities have forced many entrepreneurs who hoped to replace banks, such as Simple, to scale back their ambitions and partner with existing banks.

As part of Operation Chokepoint, U.S. officials have opened at least 15 civil and criminal investigations against banks and other payment-processing firms, according to newly released Justice Department documents. Operation Chokepoint, a Justice Department investigation into whether payment-processers helped enable fraudulent activity, has been criticized for punishing good actors along with the bad. Republicans say the government has pressured banks to stop handling payments for merchants deemed as high risk, including gun dealers, short-term lenders and credit-repair programs. Emily Pierce, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said banks are breaking U.S. law if they knowingly process illegal transactions or are "willfully ignorant" of fraud.