Bank technology

Total System Services Inc. has signed a multiyear agreement to service the Argos and Homebase private-label store cards for Home Retail Group PLC, the largest home goods retailer in the United Kingdom.

Jack Henry & Associates Inc. has begun offering its Gladiator Enterprise Security Monitoring service to financial companies.

CardinalCommerce Corp. of Mentor, Ohio, has agreed to offer authenticated payments and alternative payment brands to more than 100,000 merchants that use First Data Corp. for processing online transactions.

Fiserv Inc. of Brookfield, Wis., said it has renewed a contract with National Penn Bancshares Inc. of Boyertown, Pa., which will add small-business bill payment to its online banking service.

First Data Corp. said Wednesday that it has hired Robert P. DeRodes as its chief technology officer.

Tata Consultancy Services stands to gain a substantial foothold in the North American financial services market, and a significant revenue boost, from a deal Wednesday with Citigroup Inc.

Fundtech Ltd. of Jersey City says its acquisition of the payments services provider Synergy Financial Systems Ltd. of London has made Fundtech the world's largest service bureau for Swift transactions by volume.

Premier Commercial Bank NA of Anaheim, Calif., is using Web design services from Goldleaf Financial Solutions Inc.

Consumers are paying far more of their monthly bills electronically than with checks, a study by Hitachi Consulting of Boston shows.

By acquiring its main rival in the consumer online credit market, eBay Inc. would become a more significant player in a niche it has been pursuing since last year with little success.

Horluxe LLC, a New York company that leases luxury watches, is using an origination system from Metavante Technologies Inc.

Fiserv Inc. of Brookfield, Wis., announced Monday that it has signed four new credit union customers for its core account processing systems, and is converting three existing customers to different core systems.

Kount Inc., a unit of Keynetics Inc. of Boise that develops fraud-fighting software for online merchants, has received a U.S. patent for its system of determining where a computer is located during online transactions.

Though its U.S. payments processing business is slowing, Global Payments Inc. said its foreign operations are doing well.

Jeff Stiefler, the former president of American Express Co., has been named the chairman of inQ Inc., an Agoura Hills, Calif., provider of online management software.

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

Large banks are establishing direct payment connections with trading partners to provide faster and cheaper settlement for automated clearing house transactions, and the move could raise costs for smaller institutions.

About half of large businesses are planning to reduce their use of checks in favor of commercial payment cards, according to a study released Thursday by Visa Inc.