Bank technology

MasterCard's online shopping portal is designed to offer discounts from participating merchants based on preferences set by users and data mined from their previous purchases.

MasterCard's online shopping portal is designed to offer discounts from participating merchants based on preferences set by users and data mined from their previous purchases.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC has attracted at least 11 bidders for its Global Merchant Services business, valuing the unit at up to $3.8 billion, people familiar with the situation said Thursday.

Taiwantrade.com has signed a payments acceptance deal with the online payments provider PayPal Inc., according to an official from Taiwan's national business-to-business e-commerce platform.

Hoping to extend its reach to mobile merchants, USA ePay, a merchant-service provider, this week launched a portable card-acceptance machine that connects to Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPod Touch products.

Mobile phones may soon be able to initiate automated clearing house transactions from checks, an advance that could hasten adoption of wireless devices for business-to-business payments.

The Phoenix terminal maker said Tuesday that Dirk Rossmann GmbH is purchasing more than 5,000 of its Artema Hybrid devices. The retailer began installing them two weeks ago, and is expected to complete the rollout by mid-2011.

PayPal Inc.'s mobile payment application has been downloaded more than a million times since it was released three weeks ago on Apple Inc.'s App Store.

Payments executives say businesses are trying to reduce their costs by shifting more payments to the ACH system, but these gains have been offset by a sharp decline in check conversion, long a major driver of transaction volume.

Though some argue that mobile banking can be more secure than its Internet equivalent, security experts and consumers are expressing concerns. Skeptics have good reason to be apprehensive.

Fraud alerts not just for victims anymore; add J.C. Penney to the list of retailers Albert Gonzalez targeted; FBI raid uncovers plan to de-fraud private-label cards by phone; and more.

The New York money transfer company CashEdge Inc. has hired Citigroup Inc. veteran Catherine Palmieri as its global head of product and marketing.

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The optimists among us recognize that every crisis presents opportunity, and this one is no exception. The future of retail financial services is being written each day, as institutions use technology to adapt to consumers new spending, saving and product preferences, and to new regulation.

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Online Resources Corp. said Monday that a unit of BB&T Corp. would use its bill payment technology to collect loan payments.

SocialWise Inc. is planning to take the BillMyParents online payment system it launched last year mainstream through an advertising blitz.

Consumers want their card issuers to notify them by any means possible when it comes to fraud detection, a new survey says.

VeriFone Holdings Inc. said Monday it bought the remaining minority interest in a joint venture it formed in 2005 that provides card readers for taxicabs.

Many banks are struggling with how to create an online experience that resonates with Generation Y, builds trust, delivers useful financial products and services and does not alienate older customers.