Bank technology

JPMorgan Chase has made several investments in financial technology startups, but its plan to buy WePay will give its 4 million small-business clients a much more direct way to adopt digital payments.

As many as a dozen financial institutions are deploying IBM’s Watson to search for signs of employee misconduct so they can avoid a Wells Fargo-size scandal. But the legal and technical limits of its use are major issues.

Credit Suisse, State Street and several other banks are experimenting with a blockchain technology that could allow them to make corporate deposits more affordable to hold on their books.

Banks such as Citigroup, Regions and TD have decided they need to offer mobile customers truly customized experiences. They are experimenting with different ways of doing so that come across as helpful without being intrusive.

Bankers need to set aside their post-crisis aversion to risk, recapture some of the magic they once practiced as innovators, fear fintechs less, and worry about the Googles and Amazons more, says Peter Memon, a bank IT veteran turned global consultant.

Ripple announced several new customers Tuesday. The startup says its software, designed to compete with Swift, allows banks and others to send cross-border payments more quickly, transparently and cheaply.

The bank is upgrading its ATM network to work with Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay, allowing easier cash withdrawals and other cardless ATM transactions.

It's a question many banks are already confronting head-on as they implement new technologies designed to make compliance easier.

Banks that find true innovation hard to accomplish can take heart — it’s no picnic for startups either. To hear both sides share their challenges is an argument for collaboration.

Tim Welsh has spent his first two months on the job thinking about how to make U.S. Bank as central to consumers’ lives as Amazon, develop new personal financial management services, and expand into new cities.