Bank technology

The large U.S. banks are being shortsighted when they protest that upgrading the payments system, as the Federal Reserve wants them to do, will require short-term as well as long-term payoffs, argues consultant Dave Birch. Banks in other countries have benefitted greatly from modernization projects, he says, pointing to the examples of M-Pesa in Kenya and Faster Payments in the U.K.

Instead of trying to blame the Target breach on card companies and drag unrelated issues into the discussion, merchants should work with the payments industry to find solutions.

Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) in Cincinnati now acts as a single-service provider for retailers who use the bank's currency processing solutions suite.

Transaction data tied to rewards comes with a twist: donating cash back to charity. The California startup called Mogl seeks credit union partners.

No matter how streamlined my finances have become, there is one regular nuisance: sending money to and from family or friends without the friction that requires recipients to provide hard-to-remember information like account numbers and routing numbers.

Identification card manufacturer Datacard Group has completed its acquisition of digital identity and information firm Entrust.

We’re asking customers from different demographics to describe what they are looking for from their financial services providers.

Neiman Marcus Group Ltd. said Jan. 10 that some unauthorized purchases may have been made with customer cards, the second retailer after Target Corp. to be struck by hackers during the important holiday season.

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ATM manufacturer NCR Corp. (NCR) in Duluth, Ga., has completed its $1.65 billion acquisition of online and mobile banking provider Digital Insight Corporation.

BBVA Compass announced Friday its five finalists for a social media contest that sought fresh ideas for small businesses on the bank's Facebook page.

New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman released a statement further condemning Target and expressing more steadfast action and support for affected consumers.

The new online savings account Dream adds to the online bank's existing savings and CD mix and comes with some twists: deposit restrictions and goal-based account tools expected to come by yearend.

Target, the second-largest U.S. discount retailer, cut its U.S. unit's fourth-quarter forecast and said the recent security breach affected more people and more information than previously thought was taken.

Community banks should let big banks take the lead on technology R&D, learn to quickly copy the best of what they come up with and outdo them on customer service, say executives of Rockville Bank, including its new virtual banking chief, Donna Patel.

The New York company believes that "delighting customers" with an electronic birthday greeting will translate into more business, says its executive in charge of consumer and community banking.

Visa and MasterCard have little real interest in implementing effective security because they don’t absorb fraud losses.

DBS Bank in Singapore has committed to using IBM's Watson technology for three years and plans to spend about $11.8 million on it; Nedbank in Southern Africa has also agreed to begin using the high-end business intelligence system, IBM announced Thursday.

Regulatory uncertainty and a recognition that data is still siloed and controls are not what they should be are driving many banks to continue heavy investment in risk-related technology, IDC analysts find.

Fearless forecasts from BankThink's stable of industry veterans, experts and critics.