Bank technology

The new Amex Express Checkout service bears a passing resemblance to rival products like Visa Checkout, MasterPass and PayPal. But that similarity is only skin deep.

Hackers stole Social Security numbers and other personal data for about 21.5 million people in breaches of the U.S. government's personnel office, the Obama administration said.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has suggested that financial institutions get busy on implementing consumer protections for real-time and faster payments.

S&T Bancorp in Indiana, Pa., has promoted Jim Mill to chief information officer. In the newly created position, Mill will oversee the $6 billion-asset company's technology infrastructure and maintain its progress in offering new products.

A computer malfunction that knocked out trading at the New York Stock Exchange for more than three hours Wednesday probably stemmed from a software update that went awry, said two people briefed on a preliminary review.

Business went on as usual at commercial banks as the New York Stock Exchange and other large businesses suffered outages. But the confluence of events served as an unnerving reminder of the cyber risks facing the industry.

Greg Carmichael, a former IT executive, has been tapped to lead Fifth Third Bancorp, a move showing the growing importance of technology in banks' operations. He'll have to find new ways to grow revenue as he succeeds Kevin Kabat, under whom profitability has sagged recently.

As technological problems forced the New York Stock Exchange to grind to a halt Wednesday, financial services insiders and observers weighed in on the vulnerabilities of increasingly electronic financial systems.

Several large banks, including Citi and Bank of America, have begun sharing proprietary code with fintech startups and others. The new level of openness brings benefit to both sides.

While some predict that fintech startups will soon overthrow banks, a boom in partnerships between the two industries is far more likely. Startups will benefit from access to new markets and infrastructure, while banks will stay on the cutting edge of innovation.

Stephen Bohanon of Alkami, a vendor of online and mobile banking software, explains why tech companies serving financial institutions need to hire both industry veterans ("Jedis") and innovative outsiders ("Padawans").

Digital-only Atom Bank in the U.K. recently won a banking license — a feat U.S. fintech entrepreneurs have either failed to accomplish or not bothered trying, instead partnering with established institutions.

JPMorgan Chase has announced it will begin allowing employees to expense rides from the mobile-app powered black car service Uber.

A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. programmer who took the firm's high frequency trading code when he left for another job was exonerated a second time after a judge ruled what he did wasn't a crime.

First National Bank of South Africa says the offering for its direct-deposit customers should give them one more disincentive to leave, beyond the usual hassles of switching financial institutions.

The Detroit automaker's lending arm is teaming up with a peer-to-peer car-sharing app — a move that could foreshadow changes in how the industry underwrites auto loans.

There are plenty of opportunities for banks to collaborate with the tech startups that are driving rapid change in the financial industry. But first they need to find innovative ways to address systemic challenges like compliance as well as cultural differences.

Community banks that try to serve too broad an array of customers will wind up losing out to larger competitors. They would do better to focus on one or two customer segments and familiarize themselves with those groups' specific habits and needs.

At this year's EMERGE Forum in Austin, Texas, the Financial Solutions Lab — a $30 million, five-year initiative managed by the Center for Financial Services innovation with founding partner JPMorgan Chase — revealed the winners of a recent competition for apps that tackle consumers' cash flow challenges. The nine winning organizations, chosen from 298 applicants and 14 finalists, received a combined $3 million, along with mentorship, networking, peer learning and national partnership opportunities. The following is a look at their solutions to the problems of the working poor and others ill-served by traditional financial products.

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