Bank technology

Di Valerio joined Coinstar Jan. 19 and will take over as its CFO on March 2, succeeding James Blanda, who is currently serving as its interim CFO.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. is offering transaction processing and other payments services to members of the National Restaurant Association.

The Government Information Transparency Act has not been enacted, and until it also includes a directive to legislate a data content standard, it should not be.

Has "Tap and Go" come and gone? As issuers mail out contactless credit and debit cards by the millions, it's not clear how often they are being used.

Staring at the potential loss of billions in overdraft fees, some banks are generating income by abandoning the commoditylike nature of checking accounts.

Patelco Credit Union in San Francisco has agreed to use Guardian Analytics' fraud protection system to monitor suspicious online activity, the vendor said Wednesday.

The Federal Reserve banks have announced plans to conduct a comprehensive study this year of check and electronic payments in the U.S.

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A new entrant in the tax-payment business is playing the price card to compete against two established companies.

"Money mules" more informed than previously thought; Facebook requiring victims of security breach to use McAfee scans; Conficker programs still in use; and more.

Fiserv Inc. has a new integrated cash deposit system that its customer banks can offer to corporate banking customers in the retailer segment.

Total System Services Inc. plans to use mobile phones to gain a larger foothold in micropayments through a service that would allow card issuers to use loyalty points and cash for point of sale transactions.

Reliance Bank can't do without the services of its hired loan auditors. But it is not keen on having them fly in and stick around its Athens, Ala., offices for several days four times a year.

SunTrust Banks Inc. is dropping its current debit partner Visa Inc. in favor of MasterCard Inc., the market's scrappy underdog.

The Purchase, N.Y., payments company said the service, MasterCard Advisors Merchant Solutions, would give merchants insights into how consumers spend their money and how merchants are able to attract customers.

Financial institutions that focus only on converting online customer into mobile customers will successfully drive adoption of mobile banking services, but will likely fail to substantially lower the cost to serve their customer base.

At least 22 million adults in the U.K., or 53% of the country's 41.4 million regular Internet users, banked online in 2009, according to Financial Fraud Action UK, a payments trade group.

Online transactions and spending volume in the U.S. rose again during the holiday shopping season compared with a year earlier and the average transaction amount fell for the second consecutive year, according to Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC.

Many banks' alert systems can notify customers when their balances reach a preset threshold, or when a deposit clears, but observers say these features are not especially compelling. To really make these notices useful, banks should offer alerts that can deliver more information to more destinations.

Police using GPS units to thwart robbery attempts; flaw in Google's Android allows users to bypass security; Tex. man allegedly behind scam involving identities of the homeless; and more.