Mobile banking

By poaching Ruth Porat from Morgan Stanley, it's clear Google wants to forge closer relationships with banks. That's because banks hold the key to helping Google expand its Google Wallet mobile-payments product.

Banks' profits from corporate banking are shrinking, as margins have tightened, a new study shows. But they can still win market share by cross-selling and offering tailored products.

BBVA Compass has selected Kony Inc.'s application design platform as it looks to create some new mobile banking applications, according to a March 23 press release.

Countries including Brazil, Nigeria, Malaysia and India have proved that there are viable ways to find alternatives to branches, use mobile devices to increase the reach of financial services and roll out government-supported financial inclusion projects.

The dress was casual. The presentations were edgy. But representatives of Capital One's innovation lab made it clear to the South by Southwest crowd that it's not exactly like the startups it wants to hire away from.

When customers have a problem on mobile or online banking and (gasp) need to turn to a real person, Bank of America's Steve Beasty wants them to have a seamless — and friendly — experience.

Mobile wallets will undoubtedly become more popular with time, but plastic cards won't be easily killed off. We add to payment options to increase security, options and convenience.

FirstBank Holding Company is appealing to young, outdoorsy and wired customers with soft marketing, including a smartphone-guided treasure hunt for free snowboards and skis at a Colorado resort.

Some banks have begun to make changes in how they activate customers' credit-card accounts to use Apple Inc.'s new mobile-payment system after reports of fraudulent transactions, according to industry consultants.

Suggestions that Apple Pay is unusually vulnerable to fraud were quickly refuted this week. The fact remains, though, that extra care is needed when verifying cards for Apple's mobile wallet.

Community banks have long said they are the kings of customer service. But a new study shows technology may be the great equalizer for megabanks, as the quality of their mobile apps and online bank sites is prompting customers to say big banks' customer service has improved.

BBVA has spent about $3.6 billion on technology since 2011 to expand online and mobile-banking services and prepare for what its chairman Francisco Gonzalez has described as an existential threat from firms like Google, Facebook and Amazon.

A Google executive has confirmed the company has established Android Pay, a previously rumored platform upon which developers can build payments into applications.

Jack Hartings is a vocal proponent of reduced regulation for small banks. But the CEO of Peoples Bank in Ohio wants Washington to force other industries to share the burden of improving cybersecurity and cleaning up after breaches.

Digit, a startup in San Francisco targeting millennials, has launched a service that crunches checking account data to determine daily amounts to automatically transfer into users' savings accounts. Its debut points to how personal financial management services are growing up to do the work on the consumer's behalf.

Banks would likely not see an immediate effect from the Federal Communications Commission's open Internet plan, but experts say it could prevent future discriminatory moves by carriers that want to compete more in offering financial services.

IBM will assist Citi's Mobile Challenge competition, the two announced Tuesday.

The finance and technology industries should take some of the energy they've poured into mobile payments and put it toward making small-dollar loans more affordable.

Most millennials do almost all of their other business on a portable device, so they want to have this same functionality when buying a home.

Like a number of startups and "neobanks" that have sprouted up to challenge incumbent retail banks, Fidor Bank is positioning itself as a more consumer-friendly, tech-savvy alternative.