Bank technology

MasterCard took several steps this week that demonstrate how the company plans to realize its vision of a future where mobile phones are versatile financial tools ...

The processor Global Payments Inc. has agreed to sell its money transfer unit to a private-equity company to focus on acquiring.

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Mobile payment systems have become an important financial tool in the developing world, but experts say network operators need to offer more than just person-to-person transfer features to create a compelling business case.

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HSBC Merchant Services has agreed to offer its merchant clients in the United Kingdom 37,000 payment terminals from the French vendor Ingenico SA.

Improved technology and growing interest in cost cutting have prompted some financial companies to install videoconferencing systems to serve people in the branch, replacing tellers in some cases or providing immediate access to specialists who might be working at another location.

Online Resources Corp. has revamped its online banking software by emulating Internet retailers, the companies that arguably have put the most effort into figuring out how consumers think.

The nation's major private-sector check-image networks have agreed to standardize, by the end of 2010, the way they process payments, the Electronic Check Clearing House Organization, or Eccho, said last week.

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NCR Corp. said Wednesday it has opened a manufacturing plant in Manaus, Brazil. The factory will build automated teller machines and other self-service machines for NCR clients in Brazil, the Caribbean and Latin America. The Duluth, Ga., ATM company said the facility will employ 250 people.

The U.K. financial technology vendor Misys PLC has agreed to offer mobile banking software from ClairMail Inc. to its customers in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Remote deposit systems for mobile phones could open the door to new types of fraud, and that possibility is prompting financial companies to tighten security.

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The BAI messaging format is about to be overhauled. The format, which dates from the early days of computerized cash management, has not been maintained by the Bank Administration Institute for more than a decade.

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VeriFone Holdings Inc. plans to offer direct support to merchant clients of Heartland Payment Systems Inc. that are using its payment terminals, over Heartland's objections.

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