Bank technology

Though many corporations have realized the value of electronic payments, government agencies that process large numbers of taxpayer remittances have been less eager to install similar systems.

Headlines:

After an aggressive acquisition campaign in this country, Fidelity National Financial Inc. is turning its attention elsewhere.

International Business Ma-chines Corp. has started selling an advanced Internet search service that it says can help banks learn more about their customers and spot terrorists who try to open accounts.

Headlines:

Citigroup Inc. said Monday that it had agreed to spend $112 million to increase to 87% its stake in an Indian outsourcing operation that it founded.

Realizing that people who are interested enough in a banking product to submit a query through a Web site are strong sales prospects, banks are working to reply more quickly to those questions.

The table lists daily composite stock prices at 4 PM (unless otherwise noted) as measured by market capitalization.

MasterCard International Inc. said that in taking an equity stake in Xign Corp., which helps businesses purchase goods electronically, it is expressing its confidence in the growth of online business-to-business payments.

Headlines:

It's a fact of life for bank vendors that drumming up business is a constant imperative, because sometimes - particularly after an intense merger-and-acquisition period, such as the one over the last year - customers will be lost to consolidation.

Corporate customers of Bank of America Corp.'s Global Treasury Services unit can now accept payments online or over the phone with a single system.

The table lists daily composite stock prices at 4 PM (unless otherwise noted) as measured by market capitalization.

For years, with increasingly regularity, banks have been relying on the Federal Reserve to whisk away their excess cash, weed out the worn bills, return the money to them when they need it - and, oh yes, pay them interest on it.

TCF National Bank has become the 20th financial institution member of Nacha, the electronic payments association.