Bank technology

Hans Morris, a former Citi banker and Visa president, is stepping back from General Atlantic to launch his own venture-capital firm. Nyca Partners plans to invest between $8 million and $12 million a year in companies that can "transform the way financial services are provided," he said in an interview.

U.S. Bank has begun offering e-payment kiosks to companies that want to shrink lines during their stores' busiest hours.

Google last week rolled out its new operating system for smart watches, and some banks, including U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo and ING Direct Canada, are already looking into developing apps for it. But are consumers ready to do their banking on their wrist watches?

A Senate Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday focused on Target and other organizations could have done to prevent massive breaches and possible legislative steps can be taken to improve data security.

U.S. Bank in Minneapolis has named Gareth Gaston to the newly created position of executive vice president of virtual banking.

More banks are deciding to invest millions in mobile banking, video tellers and core-processing upgrades after avoiding capital spending for a long time. They says it's a good move for the long term, but some will take heat from investors and other critics in the short run.

With more reliable loan data, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have greater confidence that borrowers would not default. In return, lenders would receive a juicy carrot: fewer buyback requests.

Rilla Delorier, SunTrust's marketing chief, says banks need to work together to promote financial health and change behavior. "We have to do this to save our industry," she says.

The Year of Mobile Payments will arrive only when all of the key players — providers, merchants and consumers —are sufficiently motivated to change.

Circle Internet Financial, a startup aiming to make the digital currency Bitcoin more user-friendly for merchants and consumers, has raised another $17 million, bringing its total funding to $26 million.

Security vendor Trustwave has been accused of failing to identify security gaps at Target, according to a lawsuit filed by banks for damages suffered from the holiday season data breach.

Kansas City's UMB Bank has rolled out an in-house tech support program to help get its less-tech-savvy customers comfortable with digital channels. It also hopes the initiative will help it boost retention rates and perhaps even capture a larger share of the customer's wallet.

Target Corp., scheduled to testify tomorrow about a data breach affecting millions of customers, plans to tell lawmakers it had clues about the attack weeks before responding and is exploring why it took so long to react.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) has joined the growing number of banks that have hired chief digital officers.

The U.S. government will treat Bitcoin as property for tax purposes, applying rules it uses to govern stocks and barter transactions, the Internal Revenue Service said in its first substantive ruling on the issue.

Nearly 150 million U.S. adults are expected to be banking on their mobile devices by 2018, and lenders can roll out the red carpet with user-friendly apps and modernized branches.

IRAs, which are the widely used retirement savings vehicle in America, cost consumers $43 billion in fees in 2012, according to a startup that launched in the U.S. Tuesday to bring awareness to that price tag.

Instead of tasking one team with developing new products, give everyone – from senior management to tellers – permission to innovate continuously. Tapping those with firsthand experience of what works and what doesn't on a day-to-day basis can spur big changes.

If banks are serious about outsmarting thieves, fraudsters and hackers then they need to be more open to sharing information between departments and with rival banks and nonbank partners, industry practitioners say.

How financial advisers can use social media, without regulatory worries.