Bank technology

Tompkins Financial of Ithaca, N.Y., is one of many financial institutions that have been attacked by the sophisticated malware known as Zeus. Now it's fighting back — with sticks.

IMGCAP(1)]

New data from personal financial management tools can garble the feeds banks provide to third-party PFM companies, giving consumers an inaccurate view of their overall finances.

Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC announced that it will supply funds transfer services to First Cheyenne Federal Credit Union.

Intuit said Friday that it expects to delay about $40 million to $60 million of revenue involved in tax return processing delays by the Internal Revenue Service.

Visa Inc. said it has made upgrades to its Advanced Authorization antifraud system. The system, a component of its global processing platform VisaNet, analyzes card transaction authorizations "in flight," the San Francisco company said Thursday.

To bring Twitter up to speed with mature channels such as the branch and the call center, Citigroup Inc. has begun deploying and developing new technology to organize the potential tidal wave of communication.

Fifth Third Bancorp plans this year to adopt CashEdge Inc.'s Popmoney electronic payment service, which lets people transfer funds to another person's bank account through the automated clearing house system.

Total System Services Inc. has moved quicker than it originally anticipated in acquiring First National Bank of Omaha's stake in First National Merchant Solutions LLC.

As the payday lending business contracts under heavy regulation, the key to surviving is a good hook. That's especially true online, where consumers in increasing numbers are going in search of small-dollar, short-term loans.

Technology doesn't slant the playing field. It levels it. In our industry, technology and pricing are actually the simplest things to copy. Over time, they do not differentiate.

IMGCAP(1)]

As borrowers and lenders have grown more tech-savvy, the online origination channel has grown.

Government cyber-geeks duped by new Zeus; McAfee predicts top computer-related threats for 2011; California makes it a crime to impersonate someone online; and more.

Fiserv Inc. has hired a former H&R Block Inc. official as an executive vice president and its chief operating officer.

Banks are taking greater control of the personal financial management market as the third-party vendors that defined the space increasingly find they must work with banks to survive.

IMGCAP(1)]

Credit-card holders in India became subject as of Jan. 1 to entering a passcode whenever they make a transaction by phone, under a new regulation.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has raided a Dallas server farm that housed computers used to launch Internet attacks against PayPal Inc., according to an affidavit posted by TheSmokingGun.com/

Vendors are gearing up to release new features to their person-to-person payments systems to make it possible for consumers to electronically pay small merchants.