Bank Technology News articles from February 2002

Bank Technology News archives from February 2002

Technology Vendors Challenged to Demonstrate ROI...Now: In 2002, peddlers of 'vaporware' need not apply.
February 1, 2002... Finding a pulse in today's financial IT market, characterized by post- dot- com skepticism in general and bankers' continuing emphasis on cost cutting in particular, might be impossible but for one saving grace: Institutions continue to need...

Security Won't Wait for Upturn in Wake of Fraud and Terrorist Attacks: A sober financial industry takes stock of its data safeguards.(International Data Corp)
February 1, 2002... Banks and other financial institutions have always been sticklers for security-naturally-but this vigilance becomes even more vital in the face of their greater exposure over the Internet and new auditing standards. Experts seem to have...

Leave Computing to Us: Outsourcing hits its stride in banking.
February 1, 2002... The recent recession may have slammed the IT budgets of many banks and financial institutions, but apparently not when it comes to outsourcing. A new wave of outsourcing is reaching far beyond its original scope of handling a particular IT...

Financial Fusion Achieves Profitability in Fourth Quarter.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Financial Fusion Inc., the wholly owned subsidiary of Sybase, announced at press time that it had managed to beat its fourth-quarter forecast of revenue and expenses to produce the company's first profitable quarter. Financial Fusion recognized...

XBRL Spurs Great Expectations: Two front-running banks aim to streamline their lending and credit analysis operations with Extensible Business Reporting Language.
February 1, 2002... The banking industry is beginning to buy into a new technology that the accounting industry promises will revolutionize how financial data is gathered and distributed, in addition to creating extraordinary cost and time savings for banks. ...

Short stuff...
February 1, 2002... ALLTEL Acquires Dash Network from Euronet ALLTEL announced recently it has acquired the DASH network from Euronet Worldwide Inc. The DASH network is an electronic funds transfer network based in Little Rock, AR, that operates 531 automated...

Finns First to Try New iTV Payment Standard: The multimedia home platform standard will become the global norm, Nordic partners claim.
February 1, 2002... Finnish software company Cardinal Information Systems Oy, and Nordea, the largest financial services group in the Nordic region, have carried out the first purchase and payment transaction using the interactive digital TV multimedia home...

Visa/MC Ruling Sparks Suits Over Merchant Fees.
February 1, 2002... U.S. District Judge Barbara S. Jones' decision in the government's antitrust case against Visa and MasterCard International has so far spawned four complaints seeking class-action status against the two card networks, most recently from an...

Dimension Data CEO Selected to President's IT Advisory Panel: Raul Fernandez is one of approximately 20 individuals selected from the IT industry and academia to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
February 1, 2002... As a member of the council, the chief executive officer of Dimension Data North America will help shape the country's high-tech future. "My role will be to actively participate in developing ideas and policy suggestions that can further the use...

AMS Selects Kummerl to Oversee JPMChase.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Anthony Kummerl has joined American Management Systems' Financial Services Group. Kummerl will be charged with leading the global relationship management of one of AMS' longtime clients, J.P. Morgan Chase, in its strategic initiatives,...

Network.(Editorial)
February 1, 2002... Thomas Kerwin was named executive vice president and head of relationship management for First USA, Bank One's credit card wing. Kerwin's responsibilities will include working with the marketing and operations division to help foster beneficial...

Data Management Boasts Major Role in Profitability: CRM vendors aren't the only financial IT solutions providers with a strong argument for continuing investment.
February 1, 2002... If you're going to sell IT to banks in 2002, your offering had best speak to profitability-generating it, measuring it or both. The good news for "solutions providers" is that such functionality covers a lot of ground-and a wide array of...

Mastering the Ins and Outs of Security: A new degree program emerges from a noted IT college.
February 1, 2002... September 11, 2001 was a turning point for all of us. It was no different for Professor Mark Juliano of the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University. Like most Americans, Juliano was at a loss to...

E-Loan Intent on Diversification: From American Banker.
February 1, 2002... E-Loan Inc., a company that made its name as an online mortgage originator, used last year's mortgage boom to become profitable. Chris Larsen, its chief executive officer, says the company must look elsewhere if it hopes to repeat the...

Planning for New Opportunities: Financial planning tools explore a new wealth of possibilities.
February 1, 2002... When ranking financial services for their rapid transition to online accessibility, asset management and portfolio planning hardly top the list. It's true that the Internet has, in a few short years, revolutionized how a growing number of...

Smart Cards Make Their Move: The U.S. market is showing it is now ready to give chip cards a shot.
February 1, 2002... Believe it or not, smart cards finally may be emerging on the U.S. payment landscape-and some experts credit the financial industry for this long- delayed fact. "Financial applications will drive the market in the United States," asserts...

E.browser.
February 1, 2002... MasterCard to Offer P-to-P Payments MasterCard International and CertaPay, a person-to-person platform solutions provider, have formed an alliance to promote the adoption of P-to-P payments. Under the agreement, CertaPay is offering a...

Good News for CRM and Outsourcing Vendors: Despite the economic slump, banks in Europe are still prepared to spend on certain areas of IT.
February 1, 2002... European retail banks, in common with those across the world, are reviewing their planned investments in the light of the economic downturn. Now, more than ever, they have to invest intelligently in the areas that can hopefully create...

Letter from London: A round-up of overseas news from our European editor, Louise West.
February 1, 2002... United Kingdom - First National, Abbey National's finance house arm has chosen IT services company Keane Ltd. to implement a CRM solution within its consumer finance division. The division is a specialist provider of home improvement...

Online Insurance.
February 1, 2002... Once expected to quickly revolutionize the insurance industry, the online channel's influence has been far from sweeping. Still, the Web is catching on as a way to deliver insurance products and services, and promises to usher in even greater...

A Vision of Future Sites: In a recent forecast, IDC examined Web initiatives in the insurance industry and identified five areas where increased spending will occur.
February 1, 2002... - Improving the Web site and the Web content. With the exception of a few industry leaders, functionality is very limited, says Ian Rubin, IDC's director of Online Financial Services research programs. "You can get some pricing, but most places...

A New Mission for Agents: Winners will adapt to the Internet's influence on the industry.
February 1, 2002... As e-business evolves in the insurance industry, the role of agents is transforming as well. And along with the Web's obvious timesaving benefits comes a need for agents to adapt. Kimberly Harris, senior analyst at Gartner, examines the...

From the Outside: Managing IT Risks as a Whole: Keeping the management of technology risks holistic is a key to identifying security gaps.
February 1, 2002... Risk management is fundamental to banking and a familiar practice to all experienced bankers. However, risk management generally takes the form of compartmentalized processes that focus on particular areas. For example, credit risk...

So they say...(News Briefs)
February 1, 2002... "Cross-selling is happening, expense cuts are happening, but it's all woven together, where ideas are shared and technology is shared." George Bicher, an analyst at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown, speaking of Citigroup "Jack Henry has the...

Preparing to Offer Predictions: Our annual look at the prospects for bank technology spending may be a bit more dynamic than usual in 2002.
February 1, 2002... In next month's issue, we'll offer our annual assessment of the prospects for financial IT spending in 2002. We tried to set the stage this month by talking with a few industry experts, as well as a couple of successful vendors, to get their...