Financial/Banking

Atlanta - Another retailer is looking for a chief executive: Aaron’s Inc. announced that Ronald W. Allen, 72, will retire as CEO and as a member of the board of directors of Aaron’s, effective Aug. 31. Allen has served on the board since 1997 and as CEO since February 2012.

The board has retained Spencer Stuart, an executive recruiting firm, to assist in the process of identifying Allen's successor. The search process will include a full review of both internal and external candidates.

Just under two weeks after Aaron’s posted disappointing second-quarter results, the company is seeking a new CEO. Ronald W. Allen, 72, plans to retire as the company’s CEO and will be stepping down from the board of directors, effective August 31, 2014.

Wayne, N.J. – Toys “R” Us Inc. has named Chetan Bhandari senior VP, corporate finance and treasurer. In this capacity, Bhandari will be responsible for managing relationships with domestic and international lenders, depository banks, credit insurers and credit rating agencies, as well as overseeing the company’s global cash management, foreign exchange programs and capital markets activities.

Scottsdale, Ariz. – On dates ranging from October 19, 2013 and April 10, 2014, hackers compromised the security of credit card processing systems at 33 locations of the P.F. Chang’s restaurant chain in Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nevada and North Carolina, and may have stolen consumer credit card data. The U.S. Secret Service notified P.F. Chang’s of the breach on June 10, 2014 and P.F. Chang’s says it has been processing credit card numbers securely since June 11.

Boca Raton, Fla. – Office Depot has raised its full-year adjusted operating income forecast as cost savings from the closure of some U.S. stores related to its acquisition of OfficeMax are expected to be higher than previously anticipated. As previously announced, Office Depot plans to close at least 400 stores by the end of 2016, with about 165 closures in 2014.

Tamarac, Fla. – Mayors Jewelers, a brand of Birks Group Inc., will use private label credit card services from Alliance Data Systems Corp. Alliance Data is offering a customized, multi-channel credit program for the Mayors Jewelers brand, designed to help deliver incremental sales, cross-product selling and increased transaction size.

Pittsburgh – In a surprise announcement, GNC Holdings Inc. said that Joe Fortunato, chairman, president and CEO of the company, is stepping down. It named Michael G. Archbold, 53, CEO and CFO of The Talbots Inc., as CEO and member of the board, effective immediately. The change comes a week after GNC announced its second disappointing quarter this year.

San Mateo, Calif. - Feedzai, a data science company that uses real-time, machine-based learning to analyze Big Data to prevent fraud, has developed e-commerce apps for the Shopify and Big Commerce platforms. The Feedzai apps on Shopify and Big Commerce provide online retailers with real-time information to determine the legitimacy of an order.