Bank technology

When it comes to technology spending, community bankers are paying less attention to buying the latest products and services and are devoting more resources to keeping customers' information safe, a survey found.

S1 Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. are offering a combination of hardware and software that they say would enable banks to cut their branch automation expenses.

The terminal maker VeriFone Holdings Inc. says it is helping Mexico drive up electronic payment volume, and that it has shipped more than 150,000 point of sale systems to that country.

International Business Machines Corp., the world's largest provider of computer services, plans to join Citigroup Inc.'s $3 billion bid for China's Guangdong Development Bank, two people involved in the decision said.

Sky Financial Group Inc. in Bowling Green, Ohio, has agreed to use antifraud software from Bharosa Inc.

Executives frequently said they hoped that spinning off Fidelity National Information Services Inc. from its majority owner would boost its value, and the plan has paid off handsomely for three private-equity investors.

The core processing provider Jack Henry & Associates Inc. has bought US Banking Alliance, an Atlanta consulting and software company that focuses on community banks.

TCF Financial Corp. is planning to use anti-fraud software from RSA Security Inc. to protect its online banking site.

Firethorn Holdings LLC, a technology start-up promoting online banking services over wireless devices, has landed its first big partner: CheckFree Corp., the leading service provider in electronic bill payment and presentment.

Fidelity National Information Services Inc. and its majority owner, Fidelity National Financial Inc., have set the final exchange ratio for the spinoff of the information services company, which provides technology to banks.

ViewPoint Bank, a $1.5 billion-asset thrift in Plano, Tex., has hired Fiserv Inc.'s Banklink cash-management unit to provide hosted online business banking services.

NetBank Inc. continued its housecleaning by saying it was preparing to shutter its banking software and services unit, Financial Technologies Inc.

The Atlanta online bill payment vendor CheckFree Corp. plans to use risk-based authentication software from RSA Security Inc., a Bedford, Mass., unit of EMC Corp.

BB&T Corp. has joined the surcharge-free automated teller machine network Allpoint Network, giving its customers free access to over 32,000 ATMs nationwide.

Paul Olivier, the executive vice president of consumer banking for Frost National Bank, has been elected the chairman of the financial institution oversight committee at Pulse EFT Association, the Houston debit network owned by Morgan Stanley.

Citigroup Inc. is hoping to create a business out of offering corporate treasurers digital credentials, a technology that has been available for years but seen little use in the banking industry.

The transaction processor First Data Corp. has renewed and expanded a card-issuing agreement with Wells Fargo & Co.

Bank of America Corp. has seemed content to watch others drive the rapid growth of contactless payments, while rival issuers have distributed millions of the cards to U.S. consumers and merchants have grown more willing to accept them.

NetBank Inc., which has been reconsidering and disposing of business lines this year, announced two more divestitures Monday, and its chief executive said there were still more to come in the next five months.