Bank technology

The Office of Financial Research said Friday it had delayed plans to issue a rule requiring financial firms to use a legal entity identifier when they report data to the OFR.

Banks have struggled for years to get their customers to accept paperless account statements. But even among those who have succeeded in such efforts, paper use has risen.

The latest forecast of mobile payment growth, from U.K. research company Visiongain, calls for $150 billion in mobile-phone-generated payments to take place globally by the end of this year.

BNY Mellon has expanded its Treasury Services group's electronic billing and payment processing capabilities to include notifications via SMS text messaging.

MasterCard has promoted Debra Janssen to managing director of its Access Prepaid Worldwide subsidiary.

Mitek Systems said the number of financial institutions using its mobile-imaging technology for check deposits has doubled to 80 in its third fiscal quarter, which ended June 30.

Though Simple Finance Technology's BankSimple has yet to launch, it is becoming an early adopter with the technology it uses to open accounts and vet new customers.

The online bank has (begrudgingly) started offering customers paper checks. Like credit cards, its checkbooks must be activated before using.

PNC plans to overhaul technology and inject more fee-generating products once it completes its acquisition, RBC Bank exec Reggie Davis says in an interview.

The bank hopes to preserve IT jobs and reap long-term cost savings through a targeted deal signed recently with IBM.

Capital One's planning to add an Android app to its iPhone and mobile offerings as part of an expanding digital strategy that also includes mobile payments.

Computer Services Inc.'s multi-million dollar cash deal for Heit, a managed services provider, will expand the core banking vendor's geographic reach and allow it to cross-sell to a wider group of community banks.

Instead of dipping its toe into the mobile-payments pool, Heartland Payment Systems Inc. intends to make a splash with an application and a card reader that attaches to a smart phone like Square's or VeriFone's payWare Mobile readers.

Even though banks are being required by new rules to put stronger security in place for online banking, two thirds of bankers think they will never be able to get cyber crime under control, according to a Fundtech survey.

The branch will be mainly a marketing and new account indoctrination center. Smartphones will eliminate most face-to-face transactions, as well as paper checks, currency and cards – not to mention the costs associated with those media.

Visa has introduced a series of incentives to spur the U.S. to adopt chip cards – a change once considered as likely as the country switching to the metric system.

University Federal Credit Union plans to open several branches that take design cues from airports, including new tablet-like ATMs that look like the check-in kiosks at airline terminals.

A new system called DTS covers the entire lifecycle of deposits, and is a new lure for treasury management clients.

One man has shared his Starbucks prepaid card with the world, allowing anyone to spend and reload it using a feature of the card that was once called a security flaw.

Visa Inc. plans to accelerate the U.S. migration to EMV contact and contactless chip technology, the card brand announced Aug. 9.