John Adams

Integration tools that link online banking authentication to sign-on for other channels are finally starting to emerge as institutions risk losing competitive position in online banking.

Fieldpoint Private Bank & Trust makes no bones about its enthusiasm for finding reliable ways to job out IT.

Popular new revenue strategies that tie mobile banking, online banking and card programs to special online or mobile offers present a cross-channel integration and data management challenge. That requires lots of investments in middleware that ties payments to CRM systems to ensure the programs remain accessible, accurate, fast and functional.

An open standards-driven collaboration with SWIFT and SAP is helping the bank increase automation in corporate payments processing. Other elements of treasury management will follow.

Paul Smocer is spearheading a new project intended to help banks monitor their internet service providers' authentication methods.

The financial management startup is leaning on the expertise of its tech-savvy team of founders to build advanced aggregation, coupled with personalized service in automated channels.

About 78% of consumers surveyed are comfortable with their banks using security cameras to improve customer service. Union Savings Bank in Danbury, Conn. is testing this concept.

Kenya is proving to be a hub of mobile finance innovation in the developing world, even as mobile-payment systems in the U.S. struggle to build an audience.

Diebold claims its rival's single-slot ATMS, which mix cash and checks in a single deposit, are more prone to malfunction than Diebold's dual slot model. But the new NCR machines have won big deployment deals with Wells Fargo and BMO, and Wells has reported no problems.

New malicious software comes out on an almost daily basis. Sun National's tech leaders discuss the software they use to tackle the problem.

The new law's a major impetus behind a huge GRC project that will touch all departments.

Bank social media executive Wendy Arnott is melding Twitter with existing service channels to gain a high growth rate.

Sam Erwin, CEO of Palmetto Bank, uses a dashboard to locate and fix IT problems and spot underperformance and other weaknesses in minutes. It's helping him guide the bank through its recovery from the credit crisis.

The credit union's attracting brick and mortar consumers with GPS-enabled smartphones with a rewards program-based on mobile social media "check ins" at branches, an approach also being tried by DBS Bank in Asia.

Mobile payments have attracted tons of buzz over the past year, but even with all the hype, the tough rules of business apply, particularly for those companies that can't find the right niche or powerful cheerleaders, or run afoul of stringent regulations.

Selco Credit Union will go from an outsourced relationship with VSoft to licensing and to in-house development to defray deployment costs, yet maintain control as the credit union expands ancillary services tied to check processing.

Banks of all sizes are tackling changes in regulations such as RESPA. Bank of Billings is using loan documentation compliance software to meet the challenge.

By adding new processing capabilities, the bank is extending payment acceptance to include varied online payment methods for corporate clients that have international footprints.

The bank already offered credit card alerts and is broadening the program to ATM and debit cardholders to enhance fraud prevention and personal expense management tools.

Branch automation, smartphones, and social media enable a new level of service on the fly. But there's still room for more innovation, as GPS and other mobile technology expands.