Bank technology

As the card companies press for greater merchant compliance with the Payment Card Industry data security standard, some industry watchers are warning of a potential conflict of interest posed by companies that conduct audits and also offer to correct deficiencies.

A Wall Street analyst upgraded Fiserv Inc.'s stock on the strength of the core processing company's deal to buy the Atlanta electronic transaction firm CheckFree Corp. for $4.4 billion, or $48 a share.

CheckFree Corp. says it has integrated its automated clearing house software with check-image software from Carreker Corp. of Dallas, which it bought in April.

The Avox unit of Deutsche Boerse AG has announced the signing of a three-year agreement with the global financial cooperative Swift to maintain data records in Swift's bank identification code database.

Harland Financial Solutions Inc., announced Monday that it would provide core account processing to three thrifts that have agreed to use its IntrieveAdvantage system.

eFunds Corp. has announced its receipt of antitrust clearance to sell itself to Fidelity National Information Services Inc.

Online Resources Corp. says it wants to expand further in online bill payment, though its latest deal is unlikely to help much this year in curbing its losses.

Citizens Financial Group Inc., a Providence, R.I., unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, says software from ACI Worldwide Inc. helped it spot a data breach at a grocery chain before anyone else — even Citizens' customers — noticed anything was amiss.

Americans spend twice as much time reviewing printed bank and credit card statements than viewing the same information online, according to a study Pitney Bowes Co. released Wednesday.

Deluxe Corp. posted second-quarter earnings that far exceeded analyst expectations, as a result of stronger-than-anticipated revenue from all its business lines.

The Denver processor First Data Corp. has agreed to buy the Sao Paulo processing service company Check Forte Processamento de Dados Ltda.

Second-quarter earnings reports this week from the banking industry's two largest technology vendors underscored their differences in focus.

Transaction Systems Architects Inc., a New York developer of wire transfer, automated clearing house, and card processing software, has changed its name to ACI Worldwide Inc.

Strong growth abroad helped the Jacksonville, Fla., financial technology provider Fidelity National Information Services Inc. report that second-quarter revenue rose 15.1% from a year earlier, to $1.2 billion.

The Dutch banking company Rabobank Group has renewed an outsourcing agreement with the Blue Bell, Pa., financial technology provider Unisys Corp.

Though mobile banking and payment systems have been developing separately, executives involved in these efforts say the projects are likely to converge as financial companies push the use of mobile devices as for conducting transactions.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has opened a check processing center in Tokyo that uses imaging technology to clear payments in U.S. currency for bank clients in that region.