Bank technology

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In a move intended to expand its role in the payments industry and provide a new stock for acquisitions, Fidelity National Financial Inc. has agreed to combine its technology unit with the transaction processor Certegy Inc.

Fidelity Information Services Inc., which has become an important outsourcing provider to small and midsize banks, is now making a play for the nation's biggest banks through a partnership with Computer Sciences Corp.

eBay Inc.’s deal for the Internet telephone company Skype Technologies SA could also boost PayPal Inc.’s efforts to expand into new countries and even farther beyond the online auction market.

Rowe International Corp. of Grand Rapids, which makes jukeboxes, has introduced one that accepts credit card payments and uses software from Peppercoin Inc. of Waltham, Mass., to aggregate the transactions.

After urging customers to make their computers safer, ING and other banks have decided to do the job for them.

The cash-handling company Loomis Fargo & Co. expects to be up and running next month with a remote check-capture service with a difference - our place, not yours - ahead of its rival Brink's Co.

Viewpointe Archive Services LLC says the five banking companies that own it plan to be clearing all their common checks through its massive shared check-image archive within 18 months.

Oracle Corp.'s deal to buy Siebel Systems Inc., the No. 1 maker of customer relationship management software, is another step in its effort to become a more significant technology partner to the financial services industry.

Financial services companies run a distant third in using "sponsored links" to advertise in online search engine results, a survey found.

Sun Microsystems Inc., well known on Wall Street but a less prominent player in retail banking, aims to change that with a multifaceted marketing push to be unveiled today.

Headlines:

When West Georgia National Bank in Carrollton began requiring its online banking customers this year to change their passwords every 45 days, some customers balked and closed their accounts.

Banks are evaluating ways to verify a check's authenticity after it is converted to an image, but one issue they are facing is interoperability.

With its deal to form a merchant processor with Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd., Global Payments Inc. has taken its first step into the rapidly-growing Asia Pacific region.

More than a week after Hurricane Katrina hammered the Gulf Coast, some banks are still struggling to provide their customers with basic financial services and access to their accounts.