Bank technology

New York banks will be subject to extra scrutiny of their chief information security officers, multi-factor authentication practices and many other aspects of data security under the exam process laid out by regulator Benjamin Lawsky.

New York banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky provided details Wednesday about his plan to require the state's financial institutions to strengthen their cyberdefense systems.

TD Bank has settled with the state of Massachusetts after a data breach exposed the personal information of as many as 260,000 customers.

Earlier opposition to the idea appears to have eased in the wake of a new proposal that would use interbank fees to cover the cost of technological upgrades.

LendingClub's initial public offering will be the watershed event for alternative lending that Facebook's IPO was for social media, says Matt Burton, co-founder and CEO of online lending services firm Orchard Platform.

Payfone joins Google, Verizon, and other players who would like to be the gatekeepers of consumers' digital personas. The newcomer to the banking industry hopes its relationships with the four major telecom providers will give it an edge.

Companies seeking to shield valuable data from criminals and government spying should assume the attackers have already penetrated their systems and adjust defensive strategies, security firms McAfee and Symantec said.

Banks would have to upgrade their systems to accommodate faster transactions, and originating banks would pay the receiving financial institutions a fee to cover those costs, under a plan from Nacha, the industry group that sets ACH rules.

fTLD Registry Services, an entity originally formed by The Financial Services Roundtable and the American Bankers Association to secure top-level domains for the banking and insurance industries, has contracted Symantec to provide verification for the newly created .bank and .insurance web domains.

Mobile and online banking, security and analytics are expected to dominate IT spending as banks shift resources to growth initiatives and the figurative cost of keeping the lights on drops.

Many people in Brazil don't have bank accounts-but they do have smartphones. These qualities, in combination with favorable regulations, make the country likely to adopt mobile payments in a big way.

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Yesterday the Financial Services Roundtable, along with the Retail Industry Leaders Association, sent a letter to Congress encouraging legislation to allow for better cooperation in combating cyberthreats.

A Canadian startup, Koho, is poised to begin testing a mobile financial product that helps customers manage spending — think card controls that prevent late-night withdrawals to fund one round of tequila too many.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

Orchard Platform,a company that provides analytics and data support for the online marketplace lending industry, has launched an online dating site of sorts to help investors find online lenders from which to buy loans.

Bank employees will inevitably make mistakes. Lenders need to invest in people and technology to reduce their impact.

The biggest bank in the country now lets opted-in mobile Android and Apple customers view their balances without entering their user names and passwords.

Earthport, a cross-border payments service provider, has partnered with the digital currency network provider Ripple Labs to allow enterprise businesses, including banks, to more efficiently transmit money worldwide.

Blue Elephant Capital Management is planning a second fund to buy loans originated on online marketplaces. Unlike its first fund, this one will be unlevered, backed entirely by institutional investors' cash.