Bank technology

TNS Inc. has asked a group of investors that are bidding to buy the company to submit their "best and final offer."

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. of Pittsburgh is using software from Jack Henry & Associates Inc. to monitor teller activity in PNC Bank's 861 branches.

The global financial cooperative Swift announced Wednesday that its new corporate access model is commercially available, following a three-month pilot.

LaSalle Bank Corp. of Chicago has licensed a portfolio of interactive-voice patents from Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing LP.

Wachovia Corp. plans to give customers more control over their online security preferences.

The Columbus, Ohio, check courier AirNet Systems Inc. agreed to pay $487,500 to Joel Biggerstaff, its former chairman and chief executive, as part of a severance agreement.

BioPassword Inc., which makes software that identifies users by evaluating their typing techniques, has closed an $11 million round of financing.

Online Resources Corp. of Chantilly, Va., agreed to incorporate customer analytic software from Intelligent Results Inc. of Bellevue, Wash., into its customer management and collection product.

Tampa Electric Co. is using Metavante Corp. software to offer customers same-day bill payment services over the phone or the Internet.

An analyst is predicting that Synovus Financial Corp., which owns a majority stake in Total System Services Inc., is planning to spin off the processor very soon.

George F. Thomas, who is retiring this month from The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC after a 25-year career, says he is frustrated by the slow pace of the banking services industry's shift from paper to electronic payment systems.

The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System PLC will use software from Transaction Systems Architects Inc. to drive the Nigeria Central Switch, which supplies connectivity and interoperability between the country's electronic funds transfer switches.

Merchants are showing increased interest in routing customer transactions through the automated clearing house network instead of the more expensive credit and debit card systems, but some industry observers are questioning whether consumers will take to the idea.

NCR Corp. is modifying thousands of automated teller machines it sold to banks in Pakistan but which do not accommodate a resized currency.

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

Payment Data Systems Inc. of San Antonio said it has agreed to provide payment processing for a insurance carrier, which it did not name.

CheckFree Corp. has renewed a contract to provide electronic billing and payment service to retail and small-business customers of SunTrust Banks Inc. of Atlanta.