Bank technology

There are plenty of companies now with tools that let people slice and dice their own financial data, but the updated Bundle application set to go live Friday will also let users compare their own spending habits against their peers'.

A long-planned payments pilot program allowing banks to convert low-value checks to automated clearing house transactions is moving forward, but some industry experts say the initiative may be past its prime.

Fiserv Inc. is offering a mobile remote deposit service, a move that could rapidly expand the adoption of a technology that is becoming a must-have feature at many banks.

There's something phish-y about Mary; debunking security myths surrounding Apple's iTunes; caveat to merchants: watch how much you encrypt; spike in mortgage fraud; and more.

The growing use of smartphones by consumers to make purchases appears to be prompting small-business owners to follow suit.

The U.K. bank Barclays PLC confirmed that customers were unable to gain access to their accounts and withdraw money for a time Saturday after cash machines went down during an outage.

For the underbanked, who use the service with prepaid cards, the attraction of mobile banking lies in its price, ease-of-access and portability, compared to other means of going online.

Heartland Bank of Somers, Iowa, said it would use software from Integrated Bank Technology Inc. to handle check images.

Growth in automated clearing house transactions slowed in the second quarter, but the dollar value of those transactions increased slightly.

Checks may be getting an extended life now that financial institutions are developing and rolling out mobile remote deposit capture technology as part of their mobile banking applications, observers said.

Speculation that Apple Inc. plans to develop a payment-enabled iPhone increased with its hiring of mFoundry Inc. executive Benjamin Vigier.

Banks that leverage the new technology and the Nacha and the FBI guidelines will be able to avoid the risk of the ever-evolving threat of next-generation malware.

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Bank of America Corp. is collaborating with Visa Inc. and DeviceFidelity Inc. on a program to begin in September in New York that will enable consumers' smartphones to operate as contactless payment devices, Visa confirmed.

Intuit Inc. says the payment services it sells as add-ons for QuickBooks customers are becoming the main attraction — and it says QuickBooks may eventually become the add-on.

Steven J. Bisbee never set out to be a lender to small businesses per se, but his recently launched website Cogster.com could be a lender's distant cousin.

Banco Nacional de Costa Rica ordered more than 13,000 Hypercom Corp. Optimum countertop and mobile payment terminals, which it plans to distribute to merchants throughout Costa Rica.

Online Resources Corp. said it has signed up more than 40 utilities for its bill payment services in the past six months.

Banks' budgets for technology spending are loosening, but the overall sales environment is a "mixed bag," Jack Henry & Associates Inc.'s top executive said Wednesday on an earnings conference call.