Bank technology

Western Union Co. has struck a deal that will make it a competitor, and also a potential partner, for banks trying to capture a bigger chunk of the business payments market.

Governments are poised to impose a global identification system on the financial industry as well as on main street corporations that use financial markets. The U.S. Treasury's Office of Financial Research is scheduled to do this by July 15 if the industry does not come together to do this themselves.

Western Union said Tuesday that it is buying the business payments unit of London-based Travelex Holdings for £606, or about $1 billion.

IMGCAP(1)]

In an unintended consequence of the newly revised federal rules on cybersecurity, banks are likely to fare much worse in lawsuits over fraud losses.

In an unintended consequence of the newly revised federal rules on cybersecurity, banks are likely to fare much worse in lawsuits over fraud losses.

In coming months, financial institutions will have to overcome their own fraud concerns if they are to make good on pledges to roll out the service.

The bank has turned its internal customer analytic tools over to small businesses. The expected results: increased customer retention and fee income.

When network bottlenecks rendered real-time replication impossible, a Minnesota credit union found help in a wide-area network optimization controller.

Video is proving useful for remote transactions and investment advisory.

The bank long known for its "branches of the future" is rolling out Microsoft Surface applications, piloting videoconferencing for investment advisers and figuring out how to work with customers' devices in the branches.

The company is setting up two branch technology labs and reinvesting in branch upgrades, adding digital display walls, iPad apps and kiosks equipped with telepresence.

Huntington's new SVP of customer experience, David Hawkins, was recruited from Umpqua to help drive a branch upgrade that draws heavily on use of video for marketing and service. The challenge of renovating a wide variety of branch stock awaits.

Welcome to the July issue of Bank Technology News. It's a landmark for us — we've completely redesigned the magazine and added a host of new recurring features and departments that bring into sharper focus the ideas and the people that shape this business.

Should the Fed be given the authority to create and approved vendor list for fraud-protection technology?

New mobile devices and operating systems hit the market frequently, and it can be hard to keep up. That places a premium on having the right in-house talent.

Perception is reality. If consumers believe mobile payments are unsafe, then banks need to show they're building the right layers of security into their smartphone payment networks.

Instilling fear into its competitors' hearts, Walmart is taking its kiosk convenience to another level with a new merchandising unit that lets consumers create their own debit cards.