Electronic Payments Week articles from September 2004

Electronic Payments Week archives from September 2004

BofA Management Shuffle Puts Payments On The Front Burner.(Bank of America)
September 7, 2004... Chairman and CEO Ken Lewis believed it was time to gave his senior management a good shake. Barbara Desoer, formerly a senior retail business manager, became Bank of America's [BAC] chief technology, service and fulfillment executive; several...

E-Banking At BofA.(Bank of America)(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... As one of the largest players in the payments arena, Barbara Desoer says BofA relies on e-payments, and it makes sure customers are provided with the easier means of doing their banking business online at home or at an ATM or kiosk. Here are a...

The Check 21 Vendor: First Feast, Then Famine.
September 7, 2004... Vendors know the Check 21 market is finite; once America's financial system can turn checks to images and then process the result, the current market feast will suddenly turn to famine. Unless they're ready for it, many will go to the wall. ...

Card Companies Hop On The B2B Bandwagon.(business to business)
September 7, 2004... Anyone who eats sees modern logistics in action: Every carton of orange juice that is purchased is part of an invisible machine that begins in an orange grove and winds up in a refrigerator, moved along by the beep of the barcode scanner as it...

Clearinghouse.(news)
September 7, 2004... * Financial giant Barclays Bank [BCS] bought the Juniper Financial credit-card operation from Canada's CIBC for an incredible $292 million late last month. Juniper mainly operates so-called "white label" credit cards for other companies,...

New To Market.(financial services)
September 7, 2004... * IBM Corp. [IBM] and Semagix Ltd. began selling an advanced Internet search service they say can help banks learn more about their customers and can help spot terrorists who try to open accounts. The service uses a tool called WebFountain that...

The Checklist.(financial services)
September 7, 2004... Mastercard MasterCard Advisors, MasterCard International's consulting group, named Keith Stock president, and he's now been on the job about a week. Stock succeeds Henry Mundt, who is retiring from MasterCard after 20. Stock's last job was...

Election Will Determine Senate Financial Reform.
September 14, 2004... U.S. Senate Republicans are writing a new financial services reform bill aimed at regulatory relief, and they hope to have it before the chamber soon, according to Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who's putting it together. "My hope is we will...

More Provisions Of The Proposed Senate Bill.
September 14, 2004... The following is a selection of the proposals now being considered in Sen. Mike Crapo's (R-Idaho) bill, in their original language: * Proposal 2. Provide the Federal Reserve with greater flexibility to set the ratio of reserves a depository...

New To Market.
September 14, 2004... * The Federal Reserve banks integrated Active:View software from FinancialWare Inc. into their operations platform, allowing financial institutions to use the system to connect to the FedImage Services digital check archive. Financialware...

Movers & Shakers.(Brief Article)
September 14, 2004... * Rob Eberle has added the title of "president" to his duties as COO of Bottomline Technologies, while Kevin Donovan, the company's treasurer and vice president of finance, was promoted to CFO. Eberle joined Bottomline in 1998; he'll keep his...

The Checklist.
September 14, 2004... Mellon Global Cash Management Mellon Global Cash Management just published a white-paper series designed to help financial institutions explore the potential benefits of treasury outsourcing and other timely banking issues. The papers are...

Really, What Good Are Money-Laundering Regs?
September 14, 2004... The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States asked in its final report if the nation's anti-money laundering laws could have helped stop the 9/11 attacks. The answer? No. According to the report's executive summary,...

Will Fidelity National Deliver?(Fidelity National Financial Inc.,)
September 21, 2004... If Fidelity National Financial Inc. were a consumer, its friends would be ready to cut up its credit cards. In the last 21 months, it's spent more than $2.3 billion buying itself a payments-outsourcing business. Just two weeks ago, it bought 29...

Are ATMs Just Maseratis With Volvo Drivers?(Automated Teller Machine)
September 21, 2004... When was the last time you bought a vacation or re-balanced your 401(k) at your ATM? Never, probably. For the average customer, an ATM is for quick, simple transactions. Compounding the problem: The environment in which the average ATM finds...

Report Ranks Best Credit-Card Web Sites.(Change Sciences)
September 21, 2004... Credit-card-customer acquisition continues to be competitive, and online channels have proved to be critical tools for applications. As such, credit-card providers are paying more attention to the functionality of those features that impact...

Who's Who.(Brief Article)
September 21, 2004... * Kenneth A. Vecchione will become CFO of MBNA Corp., effective Sept. 30, succeeding Vernon H.C. Wright, who will retire Dec. 15. Vecchione will remain CFO of the Wilmington, Del., company's principal operating subsidiary, MBNA America Bank,...

Check 21Problems? Consumer Groups Say, 'Absolutely'.
September 21, 2004... Check 21 cheerleaders like to accentuate the positive when they talk about the glorious future of check imaging, but people both inside and outside the industry want to make sure the hoo-hah doesn't eliminate the negative. The Consumers...

Visa Predicts Commercial, Government Spending Spikes.(Visa's Commercial Consumption Expenditure index )(Brief Article)
September 21, 2004... Commercial spending by American businesses and government agencies will grow an estimated 3.6 percent next year, according to Visa USA. Business spending is estimated to reach $14.5 trillion by the end of the year, up $577 billion (4.4 percent)...

Oracle Wins Latest Round In PeopleSoft Fight.(Brief Article)
September 21, 2004... In the latest round in the hostile-takeover war between Oracle Corp. and PeopleSoft Inc., Oracle won a lawsuit brought by PeopleSoft alleging that being taken over by Oracle would be anti-competitive. PeopleSoft, holding on to the poison pill...

OCC Warns Banks About Credit-Card Come-Ons.(Office of the Comptroller of the Currency)(Brief Article)
September 21, 2004... The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is concerned about what it calls "unfair or deceptive acts or practices" in credit-card marketing and account management among the nation's banks that "may expose a bank to compliance and reputation...

Fed Seeks Comments On Reg E Changes.(Regulation E)(Brief Article)
September 21, 2004... The Federal Reserve Board is collecting public comment on proposed amendments to Regulation E, which implements the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, and on the regulation's official staff commentary. The proposed revisions provide guidance...

Treasury Promotes Direct-Deposit Benefits.(Brief Article)
September 21, 2004... The U.S. Department of the Treasury is trying to convince more people have their Social Security and other benefit payments directly deposited in their bank accounts so it can cut down on the 160 million checks it mails every year. Treasury's...

New To Market.(financial services)
September 21, 2004... * CitiGroup launched Citi PremierPassSM MasterCard, which lets card members earn points for the miles they fly on any airline plus points for the dollars they spend on the card while earning separate frequent-flyer miles from their airline...

The Checklist.(information technology services industry)
September 21, 2004... JPMorgan Chase & Co. [JPM] JP Morgan Chase and IBM are calling it quits as far as the outsourcing of Morgan's technology infrastructure, including data centers, help desks, distributed computing, data networks and voice networks goes....

The New Top ATM Dog: TRM Buys eFunds.
September 28, 2004... TRM Corp. became the world's biggest ATM network last week, buying 17,200 ATMs from eFunds Corp., which got $150 million in cash and a five-year maintenance contract. Shares of both companies jumped on the news -- $4.51 for TRM and $2.69 for...

DDOS Attack Cripples Authorize.net; FBI Involved.(distributed denial-of-service)(Federal Bureau of Investigation)(Authorize.net)
September 28, 2004... Authorize.net, which processes online merchant payments, was virtually shut down for 10 days, beginning in the early morning of Sept. 15, by a distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack launched by an extortionist. Uninterrupted service was...

How Google Derailed The Visa Search Flap.(Credit card fraud)
September 28, 2004... A recent report appearing in an online magazine called CRM-Daily.com that said a simple Google search can generate an extensive amount of Visa card numbers and personal information attracted enough excitement on the Web to create more than...

From The Fed.(Banking industry)
September 28, 2004... * The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has been advised by the Central Bank of Belize (CBB) that the Development & Holding Bank of Belize has no banking license in Belize, and it is not authorized to operate in or from Belize....

Who's Who.(Brief Article)
September 28, 2004... * Rick Lazio is JP Morgan Chase & Co.'s new lobbyist. Named executive vice president for global government regulations and public policy, effective Oct. 1, Lazio will report to Chairman William B. Harrison Jr. Tom Block, senior vice president...

Royal Bank Of Scotland Links With Lynk.(Brief Article)
September 28, 2004... The Royal Bank of Scotland closed on its $525 million acquisition of merchant acquirer and processor Lynk Systems Inc. last week, making RBS the third-largest merchant acquirer in the world. That deal came right after RBS' $360 million...

PeopleSoft Hones Anti-Oracle Strategy.(Brief Article)
September 28, 2004... PeopleSoft Corp. inked a deal with India-based software giant i-flex Solutions to develop and market core banking products for the U.S. market. The new tools will be based on i-flex's FLEXCUBE core banking suite, and PeopleSoft's financial...

Billserv Redux.(Brief Article)
September 28, 2004... Billserv Inc., once an online biller, has re-emerged as a payment processor. The San Antonio, Texas, company now calls itself Payment Data Systems Inc., and it is "repositioning" itself as an electronic payments processor focusing on automated...

iBill Teams With DuoCash In Prepaid Deal.(Brief Article)
September 28, 2004... Internet Billing Co. Ltd. (iBill) is integrating a payment engine from DuoCash Inc. to allow customers to pay for goods via prepaid telephone cards. The move could take some pressure off iBill, which has been hit lately with high credit-card...

Banks Adapt To Money-Laundering Strictures.(Brief Article)
September 28, 2004... A KPMG International survey of large banks around the world says compliance costs associated with anti-money-laundering mandates rose more than 61 percent in the past three years, but most of the banks polled don't mind the burden. Sixty-seven...

New To Market.
September 28, 2004... * Moneris Solutions, a payments processor, will be selling a micropayments system devised by Peppercoin and processed through Moneris systems to both sets of customers by the end of this year. The companies say the Peppercoin 2.0 system allows...

The Checklist.
September 28, 2004... Capital One Financial Corp. [COF] This credit-card issuer signed a deal to acquire Onyx Acceptance Corp for $191 million in cash, creating the nation's second-largest auto lender ranked by originations; Onyx wrote $2.5 billion in car loans...