Bank technology

Some banks have begun to make changes in how they activate customers' credit-card accounts to use Apple Inc.'s new mobile-payment system after reports of fraudulent transactions, according to industry consultants.

Observers fear state regulator Benjamin Lawsky's proposal to model anti-laundering reviews after Sarbanes-Oxley requirements could thin ranks of compliance specialists and slow monitoring.

A new service from Cardtronics asks consumers to pay up to $10 a month for unlimited access to 5,000 of the company's ATMs. That may not sound like a great deal — but it could have a lot of appeal among people who make use of alternative financial services.

Suggestions that Apple Pay is unusually vulnerable to fraud were quickly refuted this week. The fact remains, though, that extra care is needed when verifying cards for Apple's mobile wallet.

A stolen company laptop has left customers of Pioneer Savings Bank vulnerable, according to a consumer alert from the New York State Department of Financial Services.

Qapital, which launched its app in Sweden in 2013, is making its American entrance. It is the latest example of how firms are trying to inspire young consumers to save and mashes personal financial management with money movement.

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Community banks have long said they are the kings of customer service. But a new study shows technology may be the great equalizer for megabanks, as the quality of their mobile apps and online bank sites is prompting customers to say big banks' customer service has improved.

A consumer lender with nearly 300 far-flung offices struggled to keep up with multiple compliance projects using email and Microsoft Project. Then it turned to collaboration software, and demanded some customized changes, that helped tie its many loose threads together.

ICBA Bancard has allocated nearly $600,000 to support community banks as they navigate the transition to EMV chip-and-PIN cards this year, the wholly owned payment services subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America announced this week.

Correspondent banking has long relied on a costly, multistep process to settle transactions. Now banks must weigh whether to adopt cryptocurrency technology that allows for faster, cheaper settlements or risk getting pushed out of the business entirely.

California assemblyman Matt Dababneh, D-Encino, has proposed AB 1326, a bill that provides guidelines for any individual or business that wants to start using virtual currency.

BBVA has spent about $3.6 billion on technology since 2011 to expand online and mobile-banking services and prepare for what its chairman Francisco Gonzalez has described as an existential threat from firms like Google, Facebook and Amazon.

Roughly 12.7 million Americans were hit with identity fraud in 2014, a 3% drop from a year earlier, while losses tied to that fraud fell 11% to $16 billion, said the study, which was released by Javelin Strategy & Research.

The Wisconsin bank's cautious approach to technology and other innovations says a lot about its overall philosophy. It is treading carefully on Apple Pay, marketplace lending and other cutting-edge items while it is encouraged by its customers' switch to electronic banking.

Banks have to invest in mobile technology in order to keep up with millennials. But bankers also need opportunities to rub shoulders with young customers — and small, conveniently situated branches give them an opportunity to do so.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are among 32 technology, banking and retail companies urging lawmakers to pass legislation that provides legal protection for sharing hacking threats.

To court young talent, banks are reimagining their ads for positions like call center agents and video tellers as YouTube clips. They are also finding ways to make applications easier to fill out on mobile devices.

A Google executive has confirmed the company has established Android Pay, a previously rumored platform upon which developers can build payments into applications.

Uber Technologies Inc. said an unauthorized third party accessed the company's database last year and may have taken data on about 50,000 drivers.