Bank technology

After a series of acquisitions in 2004 that made it a major operator of financial networks, Metavante Corp. capped the year with a deal much closer to its core business, the online outsourcing of financial processing.

Bank of America said Tuesday that it has 12.4 million customers banking online, 72% more than a year ago.

Switching to a new system for tracking incentive payments in its general bank helped Wachovia Corp. to identify inefficiencies in its business environment.

Banks can reduce check fraud by beefing up the automated alerts they offer to online customers about unusual activity in their checking accounts, experts say.

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A year ago check image exchange promised to be the technology horse race of 2004.

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Much of PayPal Inc.'s success has been attributed to its rigorous behind-the-scenes war against fraud. Now the online payments company is taking its battle to the computer desktop, where customers can see its efforts.

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The first piece of the Federal Reserve Banks' image exchange network is working, and the second will be available soon.

Jack Henry & Associates Inc. has made two image processing acquisitions, picking up TWS Systems Inc. and the SERsynergy division of SER Solutions Inc.

Retailers are running short of Apple Computer Inc.'s popular iPod music players, but last week Citigroup Inc. started offering the popular holiday gadgets to customers for free.

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Joel E. Biggerstaff wishes bankers would be more forthcoming about their plans for check-image exchange.

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