Bank technology

Smaller cash management banks smaller are trying to use this era of technological transition to win market share away from the top five, and some observers think they can succeed.

The iPod music player has established itself as the toaster of the new millennium, a giveaway that banks use to attract attention, and new deposits, from young consumers.

Remote capture was declared one of imaging's first big success stories, but more than a year after the initial flurry of announcements, many banks are still tiptoeing into the market.

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A service Citigroup Inc. plans to introduce next year would let customers use cell phones to make inquiries and initiate transactions.

In an effort to promote the use of check imaging technology, the Financial Services Technology Consortium has established guidelines that banks can use to determine which images are suitable for image exchange networks.

Whoever succeeds Lawrence Baxter as Wachovia Corp.’s chief e-commerce officer will have a very different job, Mr. Baxter says.

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The next big thing in electronic billing may be e-mail.

The struggling air courier company AirNet Systems Inc. has lost some business and a suitor.

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NCR Corp. is building fingerprint scanning and verification systems from Solidus Networks Inc. into some machines instead of retrofitting in the field or bolting on Solidus-compliant hardware before shipment.

Ernst & Young says corporate cash management is in a slump — but bankers say it sure doesn’t feel that way.

Total System Services Inc. is betting that buying a stake in what it calls the top transaction processor in China will help it quickly become a major player there, and leapfrog over First Data Corp.

Comerica Inc. has begun transmitting check images to the Federal Reserve using the SVPCO Image Payments Network.

In an attempt to create a unifying element for its financial services units, BB&T Corp. has created a division focused solely on payments.