Financial/Banking

North Bergen. N.J. - Vitamin Shoppe Inc. hired David M. Kastin as senior VP, general counsel and corporate secretary effective Aug. 17. Kastin will be responsible for overseeing all internal and external legal matters of the company and will serve as corporate secretary to Vitamin Shoppe's board of directors.  

Pleasanton, Calif. - Shoppers are using a larger variety of payment options with digital and mobile payments serving as supplements to the traditional cash and card-based payments tools. According to a new study of 1,000 consumers released by Blackhawk Network, while 93% of consumers still use cash; 68% use debit cards; 62% use PayPal and 14% have made mobile payments on smartphones or tablets.

Atlanta -- A sizeable number of businesses won’t meet the EMV transition deadline, according to a survey by Randstad Technologies.

New York – Worthy.com, an online marketplace for used luxury goods, has named Gil Gadot as executive VP and COO.

Gadot joins Worthy with more than 20 years of experience in finance and technology.

Boston - Conrad Lauten has joined Gordon Brothers-AccuVal, the valuation division of Gordon Brothers Group, as director, business development. Lauten will oversee the group serving Alabama; Florida; Georgia; Kentucky; Mississippi; North Carolina; South Carolina; Tennessee and Virginia.

Atlanta – The addition of income from Progressive Holdings LLC, as well as the elimination of expenses related to the April 2014 purchase of Progressive, propelled strong profit growth at Aaron’s Inc. The rent-to-own retailer reported net earnings of $40.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2015, almost five times the $8.5 million earnings reported the same quarter a year earlier.

The pervasiveness of smartphones is making this back-to-school season the most technology-influenced ever, and a new study from Synchrony Financial provides fresh insight on the impact digital tools are having.

Seattle – Last month Facebook overtook Wal-Mart in valuation, and now another digital giant has reportedly achieved the same feat. According to the Associated Press, after intense after-hours trading, which followed Amazon’s rare report of a second quarter fiscal 2015 profit, Amazon now has market capitalization of about $264 billion.