Financial/Banking

Houston -- ATM owner Cardtronics said Wednesday it has signed an agreement to provide ATM services to grocer Harris Teeter.

As part of the agreement, Cardtronics has initially installed 100 ATMs for Harris Teeter in Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Additionally, the agreement provides Cardtronics the exclusive right to install ATMs in new Harris Teeter stores, as well as to transition all existing non-bank branch cash machines at Harris Teeter stores to Cardtronics' ATMs, over time.
 

Savannah, Ga. -- Citi Trends said Wednesday it has secured a new, five-year, $50 million credit facility through Bank of America to replace its prior $20 million credit facility.

The new facility includes a $25 million uncommitted “accordion” feature that under certain circumstances could allow the company to increase the size of the facility to $75 million.
 

Arlington, Va. -- The Retail Industry Leaders Association on Tuesday issued a statement in response to Bank of America’s decision to abandon its plan to charge new fees on debit card users.

MINNEAPOLIS — The unexpected announcement that Target EVP and CFO Doug Scovanner will retire on March 31, 2012 has investors speculating about the reasons for his departure following the recent exit of other key executives.

Analysts at Bernstein Research pointed to the fact that no successor has been named, suggesting that the retirement was not a long planned for event. However, the firm said it believes that despite the unexpected news, this appears to be a true retirement and doesn't anticipate seeing Scovanner in a CFO role at another major company.

Jacksonville, Fla. -- Stein Mart said Monday it has completed a new $100 million senior secured revolving credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. to replace an existing $150 million revolving credit facility, which was maturing in early 2012.

The new facility can be increased to $150 million and matures in February 2017. The revolving credit is for general corporate purposes, including issuing standby and commercial letters of credit, and provides an additional source of liquidity, according to Stein Mart.

By Chris Blees, amaaonline.com

It has been proven in past economic downturns that companies that invest heavily in the right kinds of marketing and strategic planning are the ones that will capitalize the most on the situation and likely thrive when the market turns around.

Austin, Texas -- NewComLink announced that Zale Corp. has implemented the NewComLink platform as part of its new program to provide alternative financing options to its U.S. customers.

Zale announced the new alternative financing program on Aug. 31.

New York City -- A report released Friday by Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan found that consumer confidence in the United States rose unexpectedly in October, a signal that an economic recovery process may still be intact.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment climbed to 60.9 from 59.4 in September, beating Bloomberg News economists’ projections of a drop to 58.

The preliminary reading for the month was 57.5.