Bank technology

Google will provide deposit insurance backing for funds stored with its wallet service, positioning the technology giant along with stored-value providers that use the FDIC's "pass-through" coverage. Here's why that matters.

Google Wallet is making a significant change in how it handles funds, in the latest of a series of moves that gives Google a stronger footing against Apple Pay's rising tide.

As branch transactions continue to decline, banks are increasingly requiring expertise in an area they paid less attention to in the past: digital design. BBVA and Capital One's recent purchases of user-experience and design firms underscore the increasingly important trend.

In the same way that Napster and peer-to-peer file sharing changed the face of the recording industry, blockchain technology will force banks to reconsider their traditional roles.

Sales of cyberinsurance are rising among financial services companies, a sign of the times as data breaches, distributed denial of services and other types of attacks continue. But policies can be misleading, and they definitely are no silver bullet.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including thoughts on the sale of GE Capital and how the CFPB's new mortgage disclosure forms will shake up the industry.

American Express' financial performance is already suffering from the pending loss of its Costco card business in U.S., pressuring the company's focus on emerging payments technology to provide a financial lift to calm nervous investors.

Digital innovation has yet to coalesce around any one executive. Chief marketing officers are ideally positioned to fill the void, since they are the natural leaders in understanding the entire customer experience from origination and sales through delivery and measurement.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and from our social media platforms.

The automated-teller-machine maker announced new software that it estimates can save up to 40% annually on ATM costs by reducing the agony of updating each box individually. The product targets the many banks that still need to upgrade their ATM fleets to Windows 7.

BBVA has acquired San Francisco user-experience firm Spring Studio, in a bid to improve the look and feel of its digital banking services.

Just as the Apple Watch arrives to take over many of the functions of a fitness band, Jawbone has announced a new line of bracelets with payment features just like an Apple product.

HSBC has informed New Hampshire's Attorney General of a compromise of some records of current and former mortgage customers of its HSBC Finance unit. HSBC Finance is a nonbank lender, formerly known as Household Finance, that HSBC bought in 2003. The bank is in the process of winding it down.

LendKey, a white-label marketplace lender that partners with credit unions and community banks, has reached a deal to sell MidCap Financial up to $1 billion in student-consolidation loans.

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who sits on Lending Club's board, said in a speech Wednesday that such technology-focused marketplace lenders should be given a fair chance to compete.

As cybercriminals demonstrate their deep knowledge of banks' fraud and security rules, some institutions are deploying software that analyzes customers' and other entities' behavior for abnormalities.

The world needs a financial system that moves money with real-time transparency while upholding the highest level of security and privacy. Digital currency and mobile money services can help get us there.

Orchard Platform, an analytics firm that pairs institutional investors with marketplace lending platforms, has launched an investment-manager database

The banking industry as a whole will survive startups. But many individual banks will fail to make the changes necessary to stay relevant in a rapidly changing market.

MasterCard Inc. and Target Corp. are in talks about a settlement in which the retailer would pay banks about $20 million for costs they incurred in its 2013 data breach, a person familiar with the matter said.