Bank technology

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

The payments software company ACI Worldwide Inc. hopes to use a nine-month-old alliance with International Business Machines Corp. to modernize and streamline its offerings, an executive said.

Lloyds TSB Insurance has agreed to use price optimization software from Earnix Inc. to help employees offer real-time quotes.

To spur new services and remove barriers to commerce in the region, regulators have given European Union banks temporary permission to charge fees for a new type of international payment to become available next year.

The check printer Deluxe Corp. plans to close three manufacturing facilities and a call center and cut 570 employees to cope with the slowing U.S. economy.

Sunnyside Federal Savings and Loan Association of Irvington, N.Y., has agreed to use core banking software from COCC.

Coinstar Inc., a Bellevue, Wash., maker of coin-counting machines and other self-service kiosks, said Paul Davis, chief operating officer, will become its chief executive officer April 1.

The San Jose payment terminal company VeriFone Holdings Inc. said Tuesday that it has hired Robert Dykes as its chief financial officer.

Six Thai banking companies have agreed to use encryption systems from Hypercom Corp. of Scottsdale, Ariz., in a coordinated effort to thwart card fraud.

To expand its sales in foreign countries, First Data Corp. has hired Nigel Bidmead as a senior vice president in its international division.

Metavante Technologies Inc. says it is developing new ways to detect and prevent fraud in its payment and banking systems.

The card maker CPI Card Group of Littleton, Colo., has bought a British counterpart, PCC, a move aimed at helping its efforts to expand into the United Kingdom and Western Europe.

S1 Corp. says demand is robust among banks in Asia for installations of several components of its Enterprise line at once, a sharp contrast to U.S. banks.

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

Just about the only business-naming trend hotter these days than "as a service" is "in the cloud," and IT security offerings are no exception. "The cloud has become a trendy buzzword," says Craig Balding, a security practitioner at a Fortune 500 company, and proprietor of cloudsecurity.org. "Now's a great time to re-brand all those hosted services and call them cloud based."

With President Bush's signature on the landmark GSE/housing bill guaranteeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it is time to insure that the potential liability of trillions of dollars facing the American taxpayer does not turn into an actual obligation.