Bank technology

The bank that got Moven and Simple off the ground is coming out with real-time payments, through a clever use of debit networks.

Digit, a startup in San Francisco targeting millennials, has launched a service that crunches checking account data to determine daily amounts to automatically transfer into users' savings accounts. Its debut points to how personal financial management services are growing up to do the work on the consumer's behalf.

Banks would likely not see an immediate effect from the Federal Communications Commission's open Internet plan, but experts say it could prevent future discriminatory moves by carriers that want to compete more in offering financial services.

Gemalto NV, the world's largest provider of high-security mobile-phone and bank-card chips, said U.S. and U.K. spies were probably behind the most sophisticated computer attacks on its networks in at least five years — though failed to steal a large amount of data.

Lending Club lost $9 million in the fourth quarter, hurt by expenses tied to its highly publicized initial public offering and by other costs.

San Francisco-based Sindeo is trying to bring the mortgage brokerage business into the future, creating a new online service that focuses on helping consumers navigate the often confusing mortgage process from start to finish.

IBM will assist Citi's Mobile Challenge competition, the two announced Tuesday.

Marketplace lending platforms like Lending Club still need banks to make the loans. Cross River Bank CEO Gilles Gade, who has deals with 14 platforms and has talked with dozens of others, explains the mechanics of these agreements in a Q&A.

The megabank's commitment to its branches stands out in an industry where customers are shifting more of their banking activity to mobile devices and PCs, and where banks take an increasingly ruthless look at branch performance numbers.

The finance and technology industries should take some of the energy they've poured into mobile payments and put it toward making small-dollar loans more affordable.

Unbanked consumers generate over $100 billion in annual revenue for alternative financial providers. New studies suggest that banks are well positioned to capture some of that revenue.

Banks want to make loans to people with scant credit histories, but the challenge is figuring out how to do so safely. One possible solution is to look at alternative data. Eager to book more loan business, more and more banks are considering such factors as rent payments, purchasing patterns, even an applicant's spelling to help predict creditworthiness.

Most millennials do almost all of their other business on a portable device, so they want to have this same functionality when buying a home.

Like a number of startups and "neobanks" that have sprouted up to challenge incumbent retail banks, Fidor Bank is positioning itself as a more consumer-friendly, tech-savvy alternative.

The business analytics software firm SAS has formed a new division focused on risk research and quantitative solutions for financial services firms. It’s headed by former bank executive Troy Haines, according to an announcement Monday.

Responding to reports last week that its encryption keys had been stolen by U.S. and British spies five years ago, Gemalto contends its products are secure and announced it would reveal results of its investigation into the claims at a press conference Feb. 25 in Paris.

Bitcoin's premise is that an open-source computer protocol could support a new global currency, without reliance on the centralized power of banks and governments. But trusting a computer protocol, without human governance, doesn't make sense. As it stands, bitcoin's governance has a long ways to go before institutions would rely on this innovative but flawed currency as a store of value.

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Gemalto, which manufactures SIM cards and EMV chips, is investigating a report that U.S. and U.K. spy agencies hacked into the company's network and stole mobile phone encryption keys, a technology also used to secure card data.

Gemalto NV, the largest maker of mobile- phone cards, said it's investigating a report that U.S. and U.K. spies allegedly hacked into its computer network to steal the keys used to encrypt conversations, messages and data traffic.