Bank technology

Most banks that deploy voice authentication require a specific spoken passphrase. Eastern Bank customers can have a normal conversation with call center reps; software in the background compares their voice patterns to a recorded snippet.

It's hard to get consumers and merchants to change their behaviors. But eventually the convenience and well-crafted incentives of mobile payments will prompt people to give up the plastic habit.

Security researchers say criminals are turning away from malware-only attacks and preying on unsuspecting call center reps, merchants and bank-website users with simpler, more traditional schemes.

Whether you're in the mood to read about the checkered history of the Vatican Bank or how Bitcoin's colorful cast of characters endeavor to shape the future of money, there's a book to suit every taste in this year's recommended reading list. Here's what American Banker's readers, staff and BankThink contributors are taking to the beach this summer.

A new Fifth Third social media campaign offers recent college graduates free one-on-one career counseling. The initiative is part of a trend of banks allocating marketing dollars to unusual perks and charitable giving to differentiate their brands.

NCR in Duluth, Ga., may be a target for a possible takeover by private equity firms Blackstone Group and Carlyle Group.

While marketplace lenders like LendingClub and Prosper are at the cutting edge of innovation for now, banks may gain ground eventually. Either way, the competition greatly benefits the expanding pool of borrowers who will have greater access to credit.

As marketplace lenders, robo-advisers and other startups nibble away at the profitable, customer-facing parts of banking, executives at last week's Digital Banking Summit discussed how banks can defend against "unbundling."

Multinational banks that delay preparation for the European Union's proposed General Data Protection Regulation could pay a steep price: hundreds of millions of dollars in fines.

The mega-banks' P2P venture, clearXchange LLC, has developed technology that could give it a key role in any implementation of faster payments in the U.S.

Hackers may have breached U.S. government personnel records more than once, accessing data on employee background investigations, the White House said on Friday.

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A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including the pitfalls of using alternative data to score "credit invisibles" and whether Benjamin Lawsky's successor should play nice with big banks.

A call to improve customers' digital-banking experience was the top theme during SourceMedia's Digital Banking Summit. Banks should imitate the Apples and Googles of the world, not each other, experts said.

Terrorism financiers are exploring the use of virtual currencies such as bitcoin to fund their operations as authorities crack down on the flow of illicit money through more traditional channels, the U.S. Treasury Department said.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week, from the qualities we should look for in the next sheriff of Wall Street to overdraft fee regulation. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and from our social media platforms.

A Federal Trade Commission crackdown on a failed Kickstarter campaign may presage closer government scrutiny of peer-to-peer lending.

In several wide-ranging discussions at the Digital Banking Summit, speakers raised issues around protecting mobile apps — including the question of when millennials will start to care about mobile app security.

The Spanish-language TV channel Univision has launched a new online small-business lending platform.

Citizens Financial in Providence, R.I., has signed a five-year agreement to outsource some of its IT infrastructure to IBM.