Bank technology

Vivotech Inc. announced Monday that Commonwealth Bank of Australia and MasterCard Inc. used its software in Australia's first trial of mobile payments using wireless near-field communication.

Paychex Inc. announced Monday that it has begun providing debit cards to its clients' employees to access funds in their flexible spending accounts.

EDebitPay LLC announced Monday that it has started a custom-branded "rewards mall" Web site for users of its prepaid debit cards.

SunGard Data Systems Inc. announced Monday that it has acquired the assets of Financial Technology Integrators LLC, a provider of hosted systems for financial companies.

North Jersey Community Bank of Engelwood Cliffs said Monday that it plans a first-quarter rollout for a mobile banking service using technology from Monitise Americas LLC.

Pressure on its merchant processing, money transfer, and check verification businesses prompted two analysts to downgrade the stock of Global Payments Inc. on Friday, as observers expressed concern over the company's profit margins despite strong quarterly results.

Banks and law enforcement officers are trying to cooperate better on identity theft issues, in part because they have realized that such thefts often are linked to other types of crimes, according to the Identity Theft Assistance Center.

Verizon Communications Inc. is offering phones preloaded with mobile banking software from Firethorn Holdings LLC.

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

Deluxe Corp. shares dropped Friday morning after the St. Paul check printer affirmed its 2007 guidance.

The number of data breaches increased last year, according to a report the San Diego nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center.

Bankers say that this is the year when they hope to get a look at how, or whether, consumers are using mobile banking services.

The recent downturn in the housing market has exposed certain weaknesses in mortgage credit risk models' ability to make accurate credit loss forecasts. Considering the significant volume of securities backed by subprime mortgage loans, and their diffusion throughout the global economy, these events have had a dramatic impact on global credit markets and on the financial institutions holding these assets.

RLR Capital Partners GP LLC, a New York activist shareholder, has increased its stake in Hypercom Corp.

Synovus Financial Corp. said Monday that it had completed its spinoff of the transaction processor Total System Services Inc., as planned.

Alipay hopes to boost its transaction volume among affluent consumers in China by promoting its namesake online payment service as a payment option to online retailers in North America.

VeriFone Holdings Inc. does not expect to meet its self-imposed deadline of mid-January to file its delayed earnings reports for its fiscal year that ended Oct. 31.