Bank technology

Total System Services Inc. announced last week the addition of infrastructure in Brazil and the expansion of service to a client in Japan.

Fidelity National Information Services Inc. has announced the availability of its high-volume FIS Profile core processing system for the IBM System z operating system.

The table lists daily composite stock prices at 4 PM (unless otherwise noted) as measured by market capitalization.

The American business mind-set focuses on finding better and faster ways to get the job done. This efficiency challenge manifests daily throughout information technology departments, where developing software, ensuring it performs as expected and getting it to market can be a long, expensive proposition.

Norges Bank, Norway's central bank, used Twitter Inc.'s microblogging service Wednesday to announce that it had lowered its key policy rate by 25 basis points, to 1.25%.

A proprietary debit network developed for small towns is helping a community bank win customers and increase deposits.

To the Editor:

Citigroup Inc. has become the first banking company to cross-certify its identity management system with the CertiPath information-sharing bridge serving the aerospace and defense industry, CertiPath LLC plans to announce today.

NCR Corp.'s decision to move its headquarters near its new factory is about moving the brains closer to the brawn.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. said Wednesday that it is working with Voltage Security Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., to develop an encryption system for card payments.

Citizens Financial Group Inc., the Providence, R.I., arm of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, has agreed to offer the MasterCard Payment Gateway to its corporate clients and their networks of suppliers.

MasterCard Inc. has launched a service that lets European consumers top up prepaid cards at merchants, and two processing companies have signed up to offer it.

The table lists daily composite stock prices at 4 PM (unless otherwise noted) as measured by market capitalization.

Global Payments Inc. fortified its position Friday in international payment processing by acquiring the remaining stake in its merchant services joint venture with HSBC Holdings PLC.

The Federal Reserve banks are introducing new ways for smaller banks to use the electronic data interchange format to help their business customers move to electronic payments.

A German asset management company is testing specialized kiosks that sell gold to consumers.

Microsoft Corp. has pulled the plug on its Microsoft Money application, saying that the increasing availability of online personal financial management tools at Web sites operated by banks and other financial companies had "changed" consumer demand for the personal computer software package.

Intuit Inc. said Wednesday that it is offering a version of its Intuit GoPayment mobile card acceptance application that is compatible with Palm Inc.'s Pre wireless handset, which went on sale Saturday.

SimpliFi LLC has decided that the best way to sell its online financial planning software to banking companies may be giving it away to consumers.