Bank technology

Personal financial management provider MoneyDesktop has formed an alliance with online banking software vendor CUBUS Solutions.

Hands-on testing of the latest version of PNC's Virtual Wallet reveals some improvements and some lingering performance issues.

Malicious program injects code into browsers to trick people into giving up their online banking credentials.

Aiming to improve customer service, U.S. Bancorp has launched a mobile app for its Convenient Cash reloadable prepaid card customers.

Smartphone capabilities, like instant Internet access, integrated cameras and GPS systems, have given consumers more control over their banking relationship and are forcing financial institutions to adapt.

Aite's number crunching for smartphones and tablets reveals triple-digit growth for banking, research and personal financial management. But placing the right function on the right device does matter.

Banks and credit unions averaged a mere 2,000 followers and tweeted an average of four times a day. More than one in five (21%) were characterized as "Twitter quitters" for abandoning their Twitter accounts.

2012 brought plenty of news that bankers -- and sometimes their regulators — would be happy to forget. Here's a rundown of a year in tarnished reputations and fines.

Wells Fargo is seeing unusual volumes of traffic, but the "vast majority" of its customers are not affected, the bank says.

Massive regulation provides a deep moat protecting large financial institutions against competition from community banks and innovators.

Libertyville Savings Bank and Farmers State Bank both plan to use Jack Henry's Core Director software in an outsourcing arrangement.

White House officials have approached American Express Co. (AXP) Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Chenault about joining President Barack Obama's second-term administration, possibly as Treasury secretary.

People widely use Google when house shopping, but a U.K. researcher says Google's own foray into mortgage comparison shopping, which has struggled in the U.S., faces an uphill battle because of how the search engine's brand is viewed by consumers.

Payments upstarts like Dwolla and Chirpify are aiming to capitalize on social media's popularity. But the question remains whether consumers will flock to a system that lets the world know what they're buying.

Fulton Financial has agreed to sell a payments business to Canadian group.

The Izz ad-Din al Qassam Cyber Fighters Group vows to continue its distributed denial of service attacks until YouTube removes an anti-Muslim video from its site.

Creative Mobile Technologies has sued the San Jose, Calif., point-of-sale terminal maker for more than $250 million. The company claims VeriFone breached an agreement over placing ad on in-taxi screens in New York.

Umpqua Bank has lured a veteran executive from First Horizon National Corporation (FHN) to lead its efforts to improve customers' experiences.

Mobile banking is off to a fast start at American Savings Bank in Honolulu. Next, the bank plans to deploy mobile customer relationship management.

An ample supply of skilled workers and other factors will encourage banks to continue bringing tech jobs back to the U.S. next year, says Harley Lippman of Genesis10, an IT consulting, staffing and domestic outsourcing firm.