Amazon.com’s third annual Prime Day event turned out to be the biggest day ever for the e-commerce giant, with sales surpassing traditional retailing blowouts like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

The most popular purchase over the 30-hour event was Amazon’s Echo Dot mini-speaker, which was discounted by 30 percent. Having extended the shopping spree by six hours, Amazon said the event grew by more than 60 percent compared with the same 30-hour period last year. The promotion also saw an influx of new Prime members, Amazon said.

Amazon Prime costs $99 a year and provides perks such as free two-day shipping on many items as well as music and video streaming. “Tens of millions” of Prime members made a purchase during the event this year, more than 50 percent higher than last year, Amazon said in a statement.

But the Prime business model is under increasing competition. Wal-Mart Stores in January began offering free two-day shipping on millions of items without a membership. And Macy’s offered free shipping on all orders, regardless of price, Tuesday only.

Amazon used steep discounts to turn its Echo speaker line into a best seller.

RBS settles with U.S. for $5.5B

Royal Bank of Scotland said Wednesday it has reached a $5.5 billion settlement in the United States over the mis-selling of mortgage-backed securities before the financial crisis — a key milestone in the institution’s efforts to put its past sins behind it.

The deal with the Federal Housing Finance Agency — the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — resolves claims regarding the issuance and underwriting of approximately $32 billion of residential mortgage-backed securities. The bank must still resolve outstanding civil and criminal claims with the Department of Justice.

RBS had already put aside $8.3 billion to cover U.S. claims, from which the Wednesday settlement will be deducted.

Duke Energy seeks cleanup money

The nation’s largest electric company wants regulators to force consumers in North Carolina to pay nearly $200 million a year to clean up the toxic byproducts of burning coal.

The request by Duke Energy Corp. doesn’t sit well with neighbors of the power plants who have been living on bottled water since toxic chemicals appeared in nearby wells.

Nancy Gurley of Goldsboro, N.C., says it’s not fair for the $59 billion company to pass its mistakes on to consumers.

A Duke Energy spokeswoman says charging consumers for coal ash disposal is appropriate because coal was burned to generate needed electricity.

THE BOTTOM LINE

$10K The maximum amount Visa is offering in order to push 50 U.S.-based small businesses into updating their digital payment technology. The program will focus on restaurants and food establishments that are committed to going cashless, Visa said Wednesday. Despite the proliferation of credit and debt cards, and technologies like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, cash remains a significant method of payment across the U.S. and around the world.