Bank technology

A new web-based application that lets people link their financial accounts to receive, organize and manage their bills and financial statements in a single view has launched after about a year of user testing.

In late 2010, a small team of strategists was assembled at Citigroup and told to be visionary. The result? Money² for Health, a payments dive into the U.S. health care sector.

• Paypal President David Marcus
• State Street Chief Scientist David Saul
• Bitcoin
• Photo Capture Bill Pay

He is perhaps banking's leading expert on the subject, but David Saul doesn't much care for the phrase "big data."

In January, customers of the $4.9 billion-asset First Financial Bank in Abilene, Texas, began paying bills by taking a picture of them with a smartphone or tablet. A few months later, U.S. Bank became the first big bank to roll out a photo bill pay service.

Bitcoin has received a lot of attention this year, for all the wrong reasons.

Citi executives Deborah McWhinney and June Felix discuss their group's new health care payments platform.

Citi's June Felix, managing director for health care in the company's enterprise payments division, on how Money² for Health Would Work for Patients, Doctors and Insurers.

Deborah McWhinney, head of Citi's enterprise payments group, talks about innovating in a large organization; colleague June Felix looks at what's ahead for the intersection of banking and health care.

In back-to-back hearings this week, lawmakers acknowledged the promise of virtual currencies like Bitcoin and the risks of overregulation along with the danger of abuse. Laws on the books may suffice to address the latter, for now.

Mobile check deposits took center stage in a comedy routine by talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.

Financial technology giant FIS announced this week its latest client win: India’s first women-focused public sector bank, Bharatiya Mahila Bank Ltd.

A low-profile strain of malware — recently discovered on a Russian cybercrime forum — could spell big trouble for bank customers and financial services companies alike, says computer security company Trusteer.

The buzzy credit card consolidator, at least in its initial incarnation, doesn’t render wallets redundant or, even, allow the consumer to do anything they can’t already.

The copier company-turned-business processing outsourcer for banks and other companies is testing a new option for at-home agents: pods, complete with work desks and video capabilities, that are designed to serve as a private workspace for remote staff.

Denver bank is rapidly adding to its arsenal of digital banking offerings, with the help of a large team of IT experts.

About 200 banks next month will be required to participate in a cybersecurity test conducted by the New York State Department of Financial Services, according to the Wall Street Journal.

As a fast, low-cost payment system, Bitcoin provides healthy competition for legacy banks. It's also a bulwark for financial privacy and freedom of speech.

Lew Goodwin, head of Green Dot Bank, and Alex Sion, president of Moven, hope to draw market share away from traditional banks with their digital banking offerings. One method: telling consumers at all times where their money is.

A prototype of what wearable computing apps could look like in banking came to market Monday.

The same thing that doomed communism will likely undermine Bitcoin: the fantasy that a protocol, a procedure, a network, an algorithm can neutralize the ugly selfish traits of human beings.