Bank technology

The popularity of social networking Web sites and the rich trove of personal information available on them is attracting banks that hope to link that data to their marketing efforts.

First Data Corp., which is about to lose some utilities-billing business with its spinoff of Western Union Financial Services Inc., has struck a deal that could compensate for that loss.

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CashEdge Inc. and Yodlee Inc. both say a legal ruling has given them the advantage in their patent-infringement battle.

To shift more customer service communications to the Internet, Wachovia Corp. is upgrading its online bank message system to give retail customers features usually reserved for corporate customers.

Bankers are becoming more comfortable using advanced programming technology, but they are realizing that they must come up with standardized ways of expressing critical banking terms.

Solidus Networks Inc.’s first bank deal is not for the payment technology the San Francisco biometrics vendor has been marketing for years, but for an unrelated product it acquired about six months ago.

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The point of sale terminal manufacturer Hypercom Corp. has sold the U.K. leasing business that sparked an accounting mess last year and led to the departure of two top executives.

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Instead of investing in image exchange technology themselves, four Montana banks have outsourced their check processing to Fiserv Inc. and sold the vendor much of the equipment in their shared processing center.

Zions Bancorp. announced the launch Wednesday of a biometric verification service for consumers who cash payroll and government checks at its branches.

National City Corp.’s online banking system now permits customers to view images of checks that the Cleveland company creates automatically for some bill payments.

Online Resources Corp. said Wednesday that its acquisition of Princeton eCom Corp. would increase its revenue by $20 million in the second half of 2006 but could reduce earnings by 7 to 10 cents a share.

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On the heels of Yodlee Inc.'s announcement last month that it is offering a next-generation bill-payment service, CheckFree Corp., the dominant provider in that market, has stepped up with details about a plan of its own - specifically, it aims to introduce a service similar to Yodlee's next year.