Bank technology

Increasingly, our markets will be defined less by where we place branches and more by where we send our best bankers to engage with existing and potential customers.

John Chen, a director for Wells Fargo and Walt Disney, will serve as BlackBerry's new executive chairman and interim chief executive.

Banks should allow more time for less-stringent pricing models and video-teller ATMs to permeate the industry as consumers wean themselves from conventional, face-to-face interaction with tellers.

FICO announced Monday it's partnering with lenders to publish consumers' scores in their digital and/or paper statements for free.

Recognizing that money issues stir up emotions, and wanting to draw people into its branches, Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) partnered with a software company to read people's feelings about money via a webcam on its new site: EmotionScan.

Google is sidestepping the telcos that seek to dominate the mobile wallet.

Cardtronics Inc. (CATM) has signed a long-term agreement with Houston-based Landmark Industries, naming Cardtronics the exclusive provider of ATM services for Timewise Food Stores, a Texas convenience store chain.

A record fine against Infosys Ltd. targets outsourcing companies and their alleged abuse of existing immigration laws to feed the insatiable desire for highly skilled engineers in the U.S.

A credit union client of technology and payments firm Jack Henry has integrated its software in accordance with new industry standards.

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

A nascent network technology user group made up largely of bankers is insisting that vendors provide flexible, software-controlled networks.

Most surveys of bankers about cloud computing indicate that their biggest worry is security. But research released earlier this month by NTT Com Security found the key factor financial executives consider when evaluating a new delivery mechanism for an application, by a wide margin, was cost: 80% cited it. NTT interviewed 700 "IT decision makers" at companies with more than 500 employees in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Nordics.

Moven, a financial services startup, now lets users activate and deactivate debit cards from their smartphones.

Higher expenses made Green Dot's third-quarter profits fall 36% from a year earlier. The prepaid card issuer also said Thursday that it is adding six more products to its WalMart MoneyCard line.

Watches. Eyeglasses. Wristbands. Wearable computing is fast shaping into a potential tool bankers may someday use to speak to customers.

A bill designed to make operating prize-linked savings accounts easier for federally-insured financial institutions was introduced by members of Congress on Tuesday.

American Banker's monthly pulse reading of mobile banking activity shows no sign of slowdown in usage.

Mashreq Bank plans to open a branch in January without any staff, reports Arabian Business.

A St. Louis accelerator that counts Square-co-founder Jim McKelvey among its founders, is doling out cash to several fintech startups. SixThirty — named after both the height and width of the city’s Gateway Arch (630 feet) -- is being backed by the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Midwest investment firm Cultivation Capital. The fintech accelerator launched in early August.

A subsidiary of Banco Santander and headquartered in Dallas, Santander Consumer USA said it's using ViaWest's colocation service for its secure, cloud-computing operations that will eventually store Santander data.