Bank technology

Digital security company nProtect has introduced software that aims to prevent online banking fraud by detecting anomalous activity.

Nomura Securities has begun using a mobile application for asset managers from Nomura Research Institute.

Tech startups are gunning to compete with banks by providing financial services to low-income and other underserved customers. Many of the offerings provide me-too services with limited appeal, however, rather than attractive innovations.

Making City Bank Texas, a community bank based in Lubbock, an early adopter of mobile banking features such as mobile photo bill pay and debit card management won Jim Simpson an honorable mention for BTN's Mobile Banker of the Year.

Mathieu Krogstad, one of BTN's Mobile Banker of the Year honorable mentions, has pushed several innovations through at Bank of the West in his 18 months as vice president of mobile banking and payments.

NewDominion is the rare community bank that invests in its own apps for small business clients. Behind that effort stands Chris Block, one of BTN's Mobile Banker of the Year honorees.

Jeff Casey, one of BTN's Mobile Banker of the Year honorable mentions, has found letting people pay bills by snapping photos of them with their smartphones is a hit among customers.

Mobile Banker of the Year honorees this year all have similar goals for their mobile banking apps: simplicity and ease of use.

We heard it again and again from Charaka Kithulegoda and other bankers honored in our Mobile Banker of the Year package this year: simplicity and ease of use are the keys to sound mobile banking app design.

Charaka Kithulegoda, ING Direct Canada's chief information officer and an avid runner, has taken cues from a Nike training tool to help develop his branchless bank's approach to mobile.

One of BTN's seven honorable mentions for Mobile Banker of the Year, U.S. Bank's Niti Badarinath doesn't mind being ahead of the curve on new mobile app features — like offering support for Kindle and using geolocation to combat fraud.

How to innovate when you're in a large, matrixed institution? "Hackathons" are part of the answer for Hari Gopalkrishnan, who leads retail mobile app development at Bank of America and is one of BTN's honorable mentions for Mobile Banker of the Year.

Andres Wolberg-Stok, one of BTN's Mobile Banker of the Year honorable mentions, is creating one code base from which Citi can deliver mobile apps to three dozen consumer markets around the world.

The U.S. and China will hold high-level talks on how to set guidelines for conduct in cyberspace, The New York Times is reporting.

Fraud is a growing problem with mobile devices, but users still want convenience.

Nearly 20 years ago, Chip Mahan's early Internet venture with Security First Network Bank led to the birth of S1 Corp., one of the boom times' most-hyped online-banking technology providers. Today, he's behind a startup small-business lender with another technology offshoot in mind: loan underwriting in the cloud.

Older corporate cash management and banking systems were becoming less popular with Deutsche Bank's younger corporate treasurers. An app marketplace is changing that.

As apps shrink the gap between financial firms and their customers, banks are coping with new and growing risks that accompany mobile devices.

Liberty Deserved? A number of the comments on AmericanBanker.com and BankThink this week were strikingly sympathetic to digital currency issuer Liberty Reserve, which was indicted for alleged money laundering, and its customers. These readers were outraged that the authorities came down so hard on the Costa Rican outfit after serving megabank HSBC with a mere fine for similar money laundering charges. They were also skeptical of the government's explanations of its stance on virtual currencies and fearful for Bitcoin entrepreneurs and users who feel increasingly threatened by government encroachment. Commenting on American Banker Washington Bureau Chief Rob Blackwell's Q&A with Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery, one reader questioned her description of Liberty Reserve as the biggest money laundering operation ever. "Did you ask about her selective memory? HSBC's 'pervasively polluted' culture involved more money than Liberty Reserve, for instance." Another commenter saw ulterior motives in the prosecution: "The action against LR [had] nothing to do with money laundering. It was to undermine the growth of Bitcoin which [the government] considers more of a threat than the much greater money laundering by the likes of HSBC (which has more blood on its hands than a 1,000 LRs)." Our own "Monetary Future" columnist, digital currency expert Jon Matonis, noted that Liberty Reserve has been around since 2001, and wondered why the U.S. waited so long to prosecute the company. "Why are their 'crimes' of providing a neutral value transfer service more egregious than they were before?" But at least one reader found the government's position eminently reasonable, writing, "money transmitters need to identify people they transfer money for, and to report suspicious activity...we will either remain serious about money laundering/terrorist financing issues, or we can revert back to our pre-Sept 11 head-in-the-sand mentality." In his own column, Matonis talked to a venture capital fund dedicated to Bitcoin startups that's hired former Treasury officials as advisors, underscoring the increasing importance of compliance smarts to such businesses.

Could cyberattacks bring down the U.S. financial network? Chuck Hagel thinks it's possible. Shielding the U.S. against the destructive potential of digital threats is among the top priorities for the nation, the Defense Secretary said.