Technology

A slew of websites operated by financial institutions, governments and airlines including Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing and Australia’s central bank went down briefly Thursday in the second global internet outage in two weeks.

The New Jersey bank has been informally funding startups for more than a year. Now it has established Cross River Digital Ventures, which will focus on backing fintechs the bank wants to work with or ones that it feels will benefit the broader industry.

Before its disappearance, Avaddon said it hacked Valley National Bank's network and threatened to leak sensitive data. The bank is still investigating.

During lockdown, adoption of services like mobile order-and-pay, biometric authentication, contactless fare collection and digital currency accelerated. Consumers have more options than ever — and their behaviors will guide further innovation.

Financial firms can minimize the damage by understanding where key threats lie, educating employees and customers about phishing scams, and breaking down silos between compliance, fraud and security teams.

Teampay is using the card network's technology, which was first designed for the Apple Card, to offer virtual accounts for corporate spending.

By 2023, the Federal Reserve expects to launch a service that would allow businesses and consumers to complete payments in real time. But a digital currency it's now studying could have similar benefits — while potentially removing the need for bank intermediaries.

The company's Drop-In Components allow developers to verify important data without extensive coding.

The data analytics provider has deployed cloud hosting to scour international payments for signs of fraud and money laundering.

KMD Partners, which makes high-interest rate loans through its CreditNinja brand, has agreed to acquire the $11.7 million-asset Liberty Bank. The purchase is likely to draw scrutiny, but the companies argue that it will help borrowers with lower credit scores qualify for less expensive loans.