Bank technology

The treasury software developer SimCorp of Copenhagen announced two new customers for its Dimension investment management system

Zions Bancorp.'s check-image unit, NetDeposit Inc., has signed a licensing agreement with the payment processor DataTreasury Corp. covering patented processes for archiving check images.

Robert W. Baird & Co. upgraded its rating on the transaction processor Heartland Payment Systems Inc., to "outperform" from "neutral."

The automated teller machine manufacturer Diebold Inc. said Friday that the Justice Department has begun an investigation of its accounting practices.

Ongoing financial difficulties dogged ACI Worldwide Inc. last week, overshadowing a new alliance with International Business Machines Corp.

At the start of the year all financial institutions were required to have strong authentication in place to deter online fraud, and now the effort seems to be paying off.

Controlling costs will once again be a top priority for community banks in 2008, but there's one area where many are sparing no expense: protecting customer data.

TD Banknorth Inc. says it is finding good acceptance by consumers and merchants for debit cards issued at the branch when customers open new accounts.

For more information on this data, visit Novantas LLC and Market Rates Insight.

The online payment processor CyberSource Corp. said Wednesday that it will shut down BidPay.com Inc., its online auction payment system, at the end of the year.

The financial vendor Fidelity National Information Services Inc. announced Wednesday that it had completed the conversion of 1.1 million credit card accounts for the issuer BB&T Corp.

Synovus Financial Corp. and its majority-owned card processor, Total System Services Inc., set the financial terms this week for the processor's spinoff.

Many companies that offer alternative payments systems are still trying to figure out how to position their products, and one thing some have learned this year is that they need to be willing to adjust their business models on the fly as this market evolves.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. expects to save more than $8 million this year in reduced call center volume, due to a new system it says is helping representatives do their jobs more efficiently.

Banking companies will finance about $600 billion in new equipment purchases this year, and that figure is forecast to grow 4% in 2008, according to a study released Tuesday by the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association.

The Chicago bank holding company Northern Trust Corp. has joined the Allpoint Network to give its customers surcharge-free access to automated teller machines.

Hoping to have more say in the evolving payments market, Regions Financial Corp. has joined Nacha, the electronic payments association.

The financial software provider ACI Worldwide Inc. says it will rebuild its applications using technology from International Business Machines Corp. to make its retail and wholesale payments applications work together more effectively.