Vendor management

A service outage on Friday at Fiserv affected multiple banks and crippled at least 60 applications for some Fiserv customers, including Early Warning's peer-to-peer money transfer app Zelle. The issue, while resolved, reiterates the importance of bank redundancies.

A power outage and hardware failure at fintech FIS last week delayed deposits and payments at 27 banks, including Capital One.

Automatic updates and data encryption have their advantages. As many CrowdStrike customers learned on July 19, they also have disadvantages.

Criminals breached a third-party database storing Santander customer and employee information, a type of intrusion that banks are increasingly facing.

The recent leadership turmoil at OpenAI underscored the importance of the due diligence banks must conduct before working with a generative artificial intelligence vendor.

Financial services companies are still in the early days of utilizing artificial intelligence, meaning they must closely examine any partnership with a third party. This includes demanding evidence to back up any performance claims these outside companies make.

The move by the company's new CEO is designed to promote greater network effects and benefits for paying members. Bank CEOs say the network helps smaller banks compete.

Some banks are gravitating toward API connectivity to build an "ecosystem of applications." Others like a one-stop-shop or ready access to executives.

UMB Financial hired an outside company to provide customer service in connection with some of its credit cards and debit cards. In a lawsuit, the Missouri bank alleges that the vendor suddenly stopped performing its duties, and that the bank's own employees had to step into the void.

True Digital, which helps financial institutions zero in on vendors, says midsize banks have a unique need for its product.