Bank Technology News articles from August 2003

Bank Technology News archives from August 2003

OUTSOURCING: Fighting a Giant Sucking Sound: Banks face backlash on IT job exports overseas.
August 1, 2003... First it was manufacturing jobs in the '80s. Then it was textile positions in the '90s. And now, in the 21st century, IT posts are flooding out of this country. But as the U.S. unemployment rate inches toward seven percent-and New York City's...

DISASTER RECOVERY: Mobile Bank To the Rescue: North Dakota firm stays ahead of the flood.
August 1, 2003... When flood waters began raising the level of the Red River on April 19, 1997, and state officials evacuated the 50,000-person town of Grand Forks, N.D., executives at Community National Bank of Grand Forks knew they were in for trouble. ...

INTERNET SECURITY: BugBear.B Virus Hits Up to 14 Banks: Firms scramble to keep breaches plugged.
August 1, 2003... The first global cyber worm aimed at banks and Internet banking customers appears to have infected at least 14 banks worldwide, including five U.S. and seven European banks, but was probably squashed before it could wiggle through the e-mail...

Luckily, Necessity Is the Mother of Invention: The objective of technology strategy today is to achieve excellence in areas key to mitigating operational and reputational risk-notably compliance and security.
August 1, 2003... Financial executives have seemingly little to be grateful about these days-particularly on the IT front. Jobs are being cut, or more distressing to those affected, shipped overseas to a labor pool that is educated and cheaper. Return on...

....NewsMakers....NewsMakers....NewsMakers....
August 1, 2003... Clients: 'I Want My ATM!' Americans love their ATMS. The majority of consumers wouldn't want to give them up, no matter how much they cost, according to the results of a recent Gallup Poll requested by the Federal Reserve. Moreover, more...

Outsourcing: A Checklist.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Core Competencies: Although 85 percent of firms say customer intimacy is most important, it draws only 37 percent of resources. PR Spin: Monitor legal, public relations and human resource issues. Risk Management: Consider the...

Outsourcing: Big Savings.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Ukraine: $22 to $34-hour India: $22 to $37-hour Belarus: $25 to $37-hour Mexico: $25 to $40-hour Czech Rep.: $30 to $70-hour Poland: $37 to $57-hour Hungary: $45 to $67-hour Canada:...

Top Tech Deals.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... 1. Fidelity information Services has acquired Webtone Technologies, a provider of customer interaction software that aids sales across channels. 2. Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union has selected Open Solutions to handle all transactions...

FRAUD PREVENTION: ATM Upgrade Also Aims to Curb Fraud: Bank One's imaging will halt empty-envelope deposits.
August 1, 2003... Bank one's proposed upgrade of most of its 4,200 ATMs nationwide is more than just part of a nimble strategy to provide greater customer convenience and compliance with various legal mandates: The bank hopes it will also stem its enormous...

D.C.'s Wall Street Security Blanket.
August 1, 2003... The new public enemies are crooks who perpetrate their crimes over electronic channels. The threat has become so serious that it has given rise to a plan for financial executives to share information with the Bush Administration. Called...

TECHIES.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... PNC Bank has tapped William Scales as the CIO of its Treasury Management division, a newly created job. Scales also holds the title of svp at PNC Financial Services Group. Previously, he was the vp of information technology and COO at Principal...

Message Board.
August 1, 2003... "Everybody's worried about remote access." Chris Christiansen, research analyst IDC Corp. on the security problems posed by providing electronic access to employees, customers and business partners outside the bank. "Not bits and...

By the Numbers.
August 1, 2003... Check imaging is here to stay, thanks in large part to impending Check 21 legislation. Celent surveyed 40 check-processing experts at mid-size and large banks, consortia, clearinghouses, vendors and the Fed. Findings suggest check volume will...

Doing a Check On the 21st Century.
August 1, 2003... Check transfer and processing have stayed pretty much the same for the past few decades, but that's about to change. What that means as to when and how is still, as they say in the military, "fluid on the ground." When President Bush signs...

Payments: Infonox Knocks Out Middleman: The 36 million unbanked in the U.S. still need to cash their paychecks. Banks are wooing them to do so at ATMs.
August 1, 2003... Infonox officials expect their active payment platform to be a big hit among banks focusing on unbanked populations who prefer to send money and buy money orders at an ATM or point-of-sale kiosk rather than through a branch teller. The...

A La Mode Makes Mortgage Appraisals Easy as Pie.
August 1, 2003... Mortgage lending has been automated in chunks over the past decade or so, with full end-to-end electronic origination still proving elusive. Firms like Fidelity and Primus, though, are taking steps to bring appraisals, one of the most...

CitiStreet's New Remote Control: Retirement-planning counselors get electronic access to an array of customer and market data.
August 1, 2003... Citistreet's retirement services Division is old school, especially considering it insists on making counselors available to do one-on-one consultations for its plan participants on-site. But that nod to the old days of retirement planning...

Wachovia's Auto Finance Unit Revs Into Overdrive.
August 1, 2003... Banks face lots of hurdles when it comes to attracting the business of customers away from captive finance companies, one of the most significant being the perceived distance from auto dealerships. Wachovia hopes its new relationship with...

Linux Woos Wall St.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... The operating system's surprising popularity has turned the Linux revolution-personified by its official mascot, a penguin-into a day at the beach. With firms such as Credit Suisse First Boston, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs becoming recent...

Ten Technology Companies to Watch.(Industry Overview)
August 1, 2003... Tough times separate innovators from imitators-no small feat in the world of technology, an industry perhaps hit hardest by volatile stock markets and economic malaise ven more, tech companies serving financial firms must deliver on greater...

Deutsche Bank Gets Remote and Plays it Safe.
August 1, 2003... Remote access for customers, business partners and employees is a must-have, but the benefits of allowing people to do as much when they're away from the bank as when they're in it doesn't come without a cost. That cost is the threat of a...

P2P PAYMENTS: MasterCard, Visa Dueling Abroad: And both have Europe-to-U.S. P2P on their radar.
August 1, 2003... The european p2p payment market is heating up, as Visa and MasterCard launch rival cross-border funds transfer services. Although they are focusing on the Eurozone for now, both card associations have the potentially lucrative Europe-to-US P2P...

Unisys Has a New IT Blueprint, But How New is It?
August 1, 2003... It consulting services are an enormous business. But firms that offer them are challenged in the tough economic climate to stay relevant and to offer clients more bang for their buck. That's why in June, Unisys Corp. launched-to great...

What Basel II Means for Risk Profiles.
August 1, 2003... As the United States House Financial Services Committee held its first 2003 meeting to consider revising capital rules for banks, the committee issued guidelines-not part of the proposed regulations-to help banks manage and supervise risk....

A Banker's Take on the Cost of Core System Design.
August 1, 2003... From a core systems standpoint, there are common myths that can be very costly for the bankers who subscribe to them. For example, some bankers think that choosing a solution based on what everyone else is doing is the best way to go. Other...

Name-Matching Software Emerges from Dark Ages.
August 1, 2003... Recently, innocent travelers have turned up on terrorist lists, highlighting a major problem with current name-matching and searching technology: It's a 19th-century, one-size-fits-all technology that doesn't account for different ways cultures...

Should You Outsource Web Security?: As Basel II highlights risk management, banks look deeper.
August 1, 2003... The increase in complex cyber attacks, along with regulatory requirements, has prompted many organizations in the financial community to install sophisticated firewalls and intrusion detection systems to keep hackers out and sensitive data...

Next-Generation Lending And Benefits of Scoring: This method helps banks land loans via phone, ATM, Web.
August 1, 2003... It is time. The lending process is at the threshold of major change. These will be not just incremental changes, but big, radical hard-to-imagine changes. Today's lender also faces unparalleled evolution, for his conventional credit skills soon...

Managing Strategic Costs Wisely.
August 1, 2003... Financial institutions' IT investment priorities have shifted categorically over the past 18 months. In the age of the tech bubble, strategic IT decisions centered on emerging technologies that promised to turn the financial services industry...