Bank technology

U.S. Bancorp recently began offering paperless account opening after seeing good results from electronically signed and documented lending. Yet a large segment of the industry still hesitates to use this technology, for legal, technical and cultural reasons.

Recent speeches by Benjamin Lawsky and other regulators suggest that government officials are gearing up to issue new cybersecurity rules. Banks' relationships with third-party vendors are one likely area of focus.

Banco del Pacifico has announced plans to deploy two types of automated teller machines to help serve the underbanked in Ecuador.

The CFPB's proposed requirements threaten to trap next-generation digital wallets and cryptocurrency innovations in a consumer protection regime narrowly tailored to the unique characteristics of reloadable prepaid cards.

CheBanca! goes further than most financial institutions to foster fintech entrepreneurs. It's not only sponsoring competitions for money and mentorship, but also working to give the young companies international exposure.

Regulators are urging senior bank management to spearhead the effort to improve cyber risk management. Executives would be well advised to act before fines and other enforcement actions are handed down.

Several chief executives of financial technology companies offered a glimpse into a coming blend of old and new technologies, and made suggestions on where bankers can best spend their time and money next year, at the recent BAI Retail Delivery show in Chicago.

Inte Q has named Steven Kietz, a veteran of financial services companies such as Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, its president.

Online lenders from OnDeck to Lending Club are forming partnerships with traditional financial institutions, prompting some observers to wonder if they might one day be willing to become banks themselves.

The Federal Housing Administration could finally get something it desperately needs: upgrades to its outdated technology infrastructure. But industry groups object to the new fee being proposed to generate the necessary funding.

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

The growing influence of nonbank companies poses a danger to the financial system, and perhaps a national security threat, BB&T's Kelly King says during a wide-ranging conversation among big-bank CEOs.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc was fined 56 million pounds ($88 million) by British regulators for the 2012 collapse of its computer system that left millions of customers without access to their accounts for weeks.

Target Corp. is asking a federal judge to throw out claims by banks that had to deal with the consequences of a data breach that compromised at least 40 million credit-card accounts.

There is a lesson for bankers in the recent decision by Bitcoin ATM provider Robocoin to stop using biometric authentication on its teller machines.

Alternative lender FastPay, which specializes in lending to digital media startups, received $15 million from newly formed Oak HC/FT, a $500 million growth-equity fund that invests in health care and financial technology.

The heads of banks are resistant to analytics and data-driven decisions in general, according to a new survey, yet embrace them in limited uses.

As digital currencies become increasingly popular in Latin American countries, partnerships between banks and Bitcoin exchanges can help expedite cross-border transfers.

In the card industry, enrolling customers online was once viewed as risky, even taboo. Today it is considered a key signpost of success.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., are pressing more than a dozen financial services companies for information about recent data breaches.