Robert Barba is the technology editor of American Banker. Robert previously served as deputy editor of American Banker's dealmaking and strategy section. He joined American Banker in late 2007 as a community banking reporter, just in time for the financial crisis. Robert played a lead role in covering community banks' struggle for survival in the years following the downturn. Robert has appeared on Fox Business to discuss bank failures and the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program. Prior to joining American Banker, Robert was a general business reporter at Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers in Stuart, Fla. He began his career as a business desk intern at The Denver Post and Boulder Daily Camera. Robert is based in New York.
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The acquisition of Yodlee, considered PFM's pioneering firm, would cement Envestnet's capability to serve an emerging demand for data aggregation and leveraging data insights and behavioral science in wealth management.
August 10 -
Community Trust in Ruston, La., took the rare step of replacing its hodgepodge legacy core system. The move should cut processing costs in half. In the meantime, the bank's taking a lot of calls from confused customers.
August 10 -
The number of banks has fallen just 18% nationwide in the five years since Dodd-Frank became law, far less than the 40% figure cited by Rubio in Thursday night's debate.
August 7 -
Ellie Mae will add new integrations of Fannie Mae's automated loan review technology to its loan origination system to help lenders ensure loans remain eligible for sale throughout the underwriting process and eliminate surprises at the end.
July 23 -
Buyout heavyweight Accel-KKR just bought a stake in Banker's Toolbox, a software company that helps community banks flag fraud. The PE firm says it was on the hunt for investments in the compliance space given the regulatory climate.
July 22 -
JPMorgan Chase is set to launch its new homepage on Sunday, marking its first major overhaul of Chase.com since 2012. The new homepage aims to simplify language and makes the company's news and stories feature more prominent with the hopes of driving customer engagement.
July 17 -
Meta Financial Group in Sioux Falls, S.D., has agreed to buy Fort Knox Financial Services, a software firm that helps independent tax firms process refund transfers.
July 17 -
The leak of documents from the surveillance software and "ethical hacking" firm Hacking Team revealed that some foreign banks were clients. Had any U.S. banks been on the list, the last two weeks would have been interesting.
July 16 -
Banks better get ready for a quick, steep increase in deposit costs after the Fed raises rates. Technology, new regulations and other factors have changed the slower-paced retail-banking game of old, JPMorgan Chase executives say.
July 14 -
BB&T's top executives are set to get up to $2.6 million in bonuses if the Susquehanna deal goes well. While viewed as a good way to make sure the deal works out well, some analysts note that M&A already contributes to executive compensation when it boosts earnings per share and return metrics.
July 10 -
As technological problems forced the New York Stock Exchange to grind to a halt Wednesday, financial services insiders and observers weighed in on the vulnerabilities of increasingly electronic financial systems.
July 8 -
ING recently launched its InsideBusiness platform, which aims to allow corporate clients to do things like manage their global liquidity from anywhere in the world. The product, which will be expanded slowly, is part of the company's push to compete for commercial clients in the U.S.
July 2 -
The former FDIC chairman said during a recent conference call that banks with a traditional model essentially community banks have been hurt by the Fed's interest rate policy and the trickle-down tactics of regulation.
July 2 -
Green Dot MoneyPak cards were phased out late last year because of fraud concerns, but they are finding a new life on Netflix. The hit show "Orange Is the New Black" features the prepaid reload cards in a storyline in the women's prison that houses the main characters.
July 1 -
Several years have passed since ING's high-profile sale of its U.S. online-banking business, but it quietly remained an active player in commercial lending. Now the Dutch bank, which recently added a sixth U.S. business-lending office, hopes the energy boom will propel its growth here.
June 29 -
Bankers are banding together to combat cybercrime and Chris Feeney, new head of the Financial Services Roundtable's technology arm, wants to play a central role in keeping it a team effort.
June 22 -
Young Americans Bank, a niche institution in Denver focused on children, has a mission to create good future banking customers, but CEO Richard Martinez says kids today are cautious about credit after watching their parents struggle through the downturn.
June 10 -
The 28-year-old Young Americans Bank was founded to teach kids to save, but now the bank is focused on showing its customers how to spend wisely. CEO Richard Martinez says tots still prefer paper statements, while tweens are getting their allowance via bill pay.
June 4 -
The 28-year-old Young Americans Bank was founded to teach kids to save, but now the bank is focused on showing its customers how to spend wisely. CEO Richard Martinez says tots still prefer paper statements, while tweens are getting their allowance via bill pay.
June 4 -
The banking giant hopes that convenience and less paperwork will help it do more business with existing small business customers.
May 27
