Bank technology

Instant Apps could give banks a better option for transitioning customers from a quick and easy account opening to a more robust banking experience.

With initiatives like its adoption of Touch ID last year, Chase is setting the bar for the industry on digital innovation.

In this quick Q&A, Gavin Michael, the 51-year-old head of digital for JPMorgan Chase's retail unit, talks about his favorite apps, his love of pen and paper and the technology he is most excited about.

The 2016 Digital Bankers of the Year, selected by the tech journalists at American Banker, are helping their organizations redefine the customer experience as people rely more on their phones and less on face-to-face interactions to transact. Through their efforts, customers are getting into their accounts faster, sending money more easily and enjoying better digital experiences overall.

A recent spate of breaches on Asian banks that allowed hackers access to the Swift network have resulted in finger pointing, and some calls for creating a new, more secure network. But the issues faced by Swift would likely be the same with any replacement network.

Well before the mobile payments explosion, incumbents were already focused on how to respond to nonbanks "piggybacking" on banks' payments infrastructure. As the consultant behind a 1994 banking industry report on the threat put it, "there is no time for delay."

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

Consumers, especially millennials, increasingly prefer to do everything on their mobile devices, including signing up for services. But as banks start to open accounts for people whom their employees have never met, there are plenty of questions about whether they can tell real customers and crooks apart.

Investigators are examining possible computer breaches at as many as 12 banks linked to Swift's global payments network that have irregularities similar to those in the theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank.

In the ongoing melee between the two major players, strong authentication has been put on the backburner in favor of the respective economies of implementing chip card technology.