Bank technology

Planet Payment Inc. says it hopes the global financial downturn will increase demand for its multicurrency payment service.

A new set of guidelines has given bankers a better idea of how regulators will evaluate their use of remote check-image capture services, and it might prompt financial companies to accelerate their use of the technology, according to market watchers.

Discover Financial Services has started to categorize its merchants by transaction volume to determine how each will have to demonstrate compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

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

Last year image exchange volume rose 97% from 2007, to a record 5.6 billion check images, The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC of New York said Thursday.

The Dallas business-process outsourcer and payment software provider BancTec Inc. said Thursday that it had sold its information technology service management unit to QualxServ LLC of Tewksbury, Mass.

The venture capital firm Austin Ventures said Thursday that it has bought three merchant processors and will combine them to create a Dallas company called Century Payments Inc.

Fiserv Inc. says its MyCheckFree.com payment site has become a key part of small billers' bill-payment strategies.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. said Wednesday that it would provide international remittance services to KeyPoint Credit Union.

Banco Santander SA has agreed to use anti-money-laundering software from Norkom Group PLC.

Nine universities have agreed to use an online payment and management system from USA Technologies Inc. that lets students monitor, and pay for, their laundry.

A Ukrainian accused of helping perpetrate the largest data theft ever was sentenced in Turkey last week to 30 years in prison after being convicted of breaking into Turkish consumers' bank accounts electronically.

Oberthur Technologies SA is planning to move its Los Angeles card manufacturing operations to its recently expanded Exton, Pa., plant.

Hypercom Corp. has developed a system for updating remotely the encryption capabilities of its payment terminals — a process that currently requires companies to send the machines to a secure facility.

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

Philippine Farmers Bank Inc. has agreed to use core processing software from Misys PLC of London to improve its consumer lending business.

Renaissance Group of Moscow is using core processing technology from Fidelity National Information Services Inc. to manage its consumer lending operations.