Bank technology

The Financial Services Roundtable board said on Friday that Paul Smocer has been named president of its technology policy division, BITS.

When looking for fraud, merchants and card issuers typically see only their half of a customer interaction, and getting useful data can be like listening to one half of a phone call. A London payment processor seeks to change this by giving both players the full conversation.

Banks are starting to notice that their online banking and mobile sites are not as good as customers expect. Many banks, especially the largest ones, are making major investments to change this, Fiserv says.

The Mortgage Bankers Association will resume running the day-to-day operations of its MISMO subsidiary on Dec. 1, taking the task back from Merscorp. Discussions on the move intensified amid MERS' regulatory scrutiny.

Picking up where early-Internet entrepreneurs left off a decade ago, Jingit is working with U.S. Bancorp to revitalize the business model of compensating consumers for watching ads online.

Credit card company Discover Financial Services has been a frequent buyer in the past year as it tries to expand beyond its traditional card lending and network roots. But now it is developing new businesses internally, including a new online checking account it plans to launch at the end of 2012.

Just as Discover is discontinuing single-use account numbers, MasterCard is making them a central feature of a small-business offering.

Green Acres this ain't. But welcome to FarmVille, bankers. Capital One announced on Tuesday a partnership with virtual game distributor Zynga, which will let Capital One plant its brand in three popular online games — FarmVille, CityVille and The Pioneer Trail.

Kenya is proving to be a hub of mobile finance innovation in the developing world, even as mobile-payment systems in the U.S. struggle to build an audience.

Combining core banking with workforce management intended to help banks stay in compliance with labor laws and improve customer service.

Discover Financial Services more than doubled its third-quarter net income to $649 million, as its customers increased their spending and its credit card loan portfolio grew for the first time in over two years.

Arkelis, the former Sungard division that produced Ambit messaging technology, has upgraded the platform and created an on-demand option.

In a forum called The Bench, the Swedish merchant bank is building a community among formerly lonely trade finance people and cash managers.

Traditionally demand deposit account origination has followed a fairly standard process. Enter the application, check OFAC and "closed-for-cause" databases, open the account. Lather, rinse, repeat. However, with banks looking to shore up deposit account profitability in the wake of the Durbin Amendment by cutting costs and reducing fraud losses, the standard origination process just won’t do it anymore.

Banks, credit card networks and technology companies like Google could be wasting money on developing mobile wallets and other smartphone payment systems. A Lightspeed Research survey found that the ability to make mobile payments is "very unimportant" to about half of credit card customers with smartphones.

When fraud happens, consumers complain constantly — to their banks, to their friends, and to anyone on the Internet who will listen. BillGuard, a New York company founded last year, pools these complaints to help flag fraudulent transactions that affect multiple consumers at once.

Banks are increasingly using mobile devices as an added layer of authentication for online banking, but messages sent to a phone can be intercepted. A security method developed in South Africa may close that security hole.

Ecommerce software company Rearden Commerce has raised $133 million in new funding from investors Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and American Express Co.

Payments firm S1, jilted by Fundtech, needs to find a new merger partner to stay competitive and please shareholders. A long line of prospective suitors awaits.

Consumers are sharing more personal information online than ever — but they don't want to share it with banks. A few companies are trying to find a middle ground, helping consumers connect to lenders without exposing even basic contact information until absolutely necessary.