Bank technology

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in a re-examination, has dealt a serious blow to a payment processor that has sued many of the nation's largest financial institutions over a patented process for creating and storing digital check images.

The brokerage technology vendor Scivantage Inc. is developing a security system that uses challenge questions with dynamic answers, making them more resistant to keyloggers.

Intuit Inc., an electronic banking pioneer that has largely been eclipsed by online banking, hopes to regain its prominence in that market by acquiring the technology vendor Digital Insight Corp.

The Federal Reserve said Thursday that its FedLine Advantage online access system had returned to normal operation after glitches earlier in the week snarled automated clearing house access for hundreds of financial companies.

More than 100 U.S. banks are using multifactor authentication tokens from Vasco Data Security International Inc.

As payments executives mull ways to include invoice details within wire transfers, a trans-Atlantic conflict seems to be brewing over which data standard to use.

Interac Association, MasterCard Canada Inc., and Visa Canada Association are planning to test smart cards in Canada next year.

Suncorp Group, Australia's sixth-largest banking company, has expanded its planned use of reconciliation software from CheckFree Corp. Last month Suncorp said that it would use the Accurate NXG software to replace a largely manual process for mitigating operational risk in some accounts at its three major business units. On Tuesday, CheckFree said that Suncorp planned to quadruple the number of accounts it would reconcile with the software.

The antifraud software vendor Covelight Systems Inc. will offer its customers a security tool from Quova Inc.

The name that Flushing Financial Corp. in Lake Success, N.Y., gave the Internet bank it launched Monday - iGObanking.com - is meant to convey the idea of moving forward, executives at the $2.4 billion-asset thrift company said.

The core processing provider Computer Services Inc. has renewed its referral and distribution agreement with the banking technology vendor Digital Insight Corp.

Oberthur Card Systems SA of Nanterre, France, Europe's fourth-largest maker of smart cards, said its chief executive, Pierre Barberis, has resigned for personal reasons.

Peoples Savings Bank of Indianola, Iowa, is using software from Community Banking Systems to send check images to the Federal Reserve banks.

Financial companies have long depended on a careful mixture of hard data and human expertise to set product prices, but some are experimenting with what they call a more purely quantitative approach: using automated pricing software.

As part of a series of management changes aimed at strengthening its international business, eFunds Corp. has hired an Oracle Corp. vice president to head its U.S. operations.

Hoping to win more business in Eastern Europe, Global Payments Inc. has opened an office in Kiev.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has expanded its check image operations in Asia by opening processing centers in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Mumbai.