Branch banking

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Britain's biggest taxpayer-owned lender, apologized for a technical fault that left customers unable to access accounts and offered to compensate those who have lost money.

NCR has been working to become a "hardware-enabled, software-driven business" for eight years. With its purchase of online and mobile banking vendor Digital Insight and transaction switching and fraud detection software company Alaric Systems, it's taken a big step forward.

NCR Corp. has agreed to purchase Menlo, Calif.-based Digital Insight Corp. for $1.65 billion. Separately, NCR also completed a purchase of Alaric Systems in London for $84 million.

Electronic payments provider ACI Worldwide inked a nine-year extension to service 24,000 ATMs across the U.K. for VocaLink, the country’s payment infrastructure provider.

Oberthur Technologies will supply First Data Corp. with EMV smart cards as part of a partnership in which both companies plan to promote use of the chip-based cards in the U.S.

Government payment processor General Payment Systems has signed an agreement with Riverside Superior Court in California to support alternative payments.

MADISON, Wis. — Once again, rumors of the death of branches have been greatly exaggerated, according to a new study.

The use of prepaid debit cards at Cardtronics-owned ATMs continues to grow at a steady pace, with reloadable cards accounting for 16% of U.S. withdrawal volume during the third quarter.

On the first day RoboCoin's Bitcoin ATM was deployed, one third of its users were new to the digital currency.

The payments industry is facing pressure from outside companies that are toppling many preconceptions about how payments should work. But industry veterans are fighting back, and they shared their strategies at SourceMedia's 2013 ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum.

Diebold Inc., a maker of ATMs and bank security systems, agreed to pay more than $48 million to settle allegations by the U.S. that it bribed officials in Russia, China and Indonesia.

As Fexco and First Data demonstrated their futuristic ATM concept, they emphasized that the bank is at the heart of the offering. And as Lamassu demonstrated a similar device for bitcoin users, a very different message came across.

Payment Alliance International and Iberiabank Corp. have agreed to brand ATMs in Rite Aid pharmacies in Greater Memphis.

LANSING, Mich. – The Brighton Township Planning Commission on Monday night signed off on a site plan for Lake Trust CU’s new 100,000-square-foot office project, which would be one of the biggest credit union builds in the country.

Despite Bitcoin's pop culture appeal, most people perceive the virtual currency as so complicated that it must take a rocket scientist to understand. But Moneero has invented a machine that aims to change that perception.

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine – Town and Country FCU is proposing to build a 40,399-square-foot office project in nearby Scarborough that would serve as office space for the credit union’s lending, accounting, collecting and marketing offices.

WEST JORDAN, Utah – Mountain America CU this week opened a new branch in Pocatello, its fifth in Idaho and 77th in its five Western states field of membership.

MECHANICSBURG, Penn. – Members 1st FCU is opening three more branches in Lancaster County, in Elizabethtown this month, Ephrata next month and Millersville in April.

ST. JOSEPH, Mich. – Fast-growing United FCU, one of a handful of credit unions to buy a bank in the past year, has renovated its 6,000-square-foot mortgage processing facility into a training center for staff.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Park Community FCU plans to break ground next week on its new headquarters, a two-story, 43,000-square-foot building.