Bank Technology News articles from February 2004

Bank Technology News archives from February 2004

Card Transactions: 'Commissions' For Merchants: Dynamic currency conversion is big business.
February 1, 2004... U.S. acquirer banks are leaping into the burgeoning field of dynamic currency conversion, which not only promises a new source of income, but offers a rebate-or what some politely call a "commission"-for merchants. Banks earn the fee on...

Fraud: Credit Cards Fight The Good Fight.
February 1, 2004... Internet fraud remains consumers' biggest fear in the race to keep the consumer safe from on-line payments and ID fraud, the three big credit card providers are focused on their tried and true methods. Visa's Verify by Visa and MasterCard's...

Imaging:Is Latin American Network Feasible?
February 1, 2004... ERAS proposes image clearing Web site miami software firm eras isn't satisfied with landing the biggest fish in Latin America-CECOBAN, the Mexican Central Bank's processing arm. Now it's angling for the whole school with a proposal to create a...

Editor's Note.
February 1, 2004... In "Nat City's New Image" (January 2004), BTN incorrectly identified the corporate affiliation of Rian Maloney. Maloney is vp of emerging technology for VECTORsgi. BTN regrets the error. In "Bright Ideas" (January 2004), a quote from the...

Firing Line: Conspiracy Theories Hit a New High Inside Beltway.
February 1, 2004... There are conspiracy theories, and then there are conspiracy theories. Last month, Congress got a sampling of one neither connected to party politics on the Hill nor to filmmaker Oliver Stone. The origin of this conspiracy: the technology...

Operating Systems: Linux Foes Take Their Battle to D.C.: Tech firm SCO blasts penguin as terror threat.
February 1, 2004... Linux made lots of friends in its rise to be the darling software at the heart of a number of investment banks, not to mention a wide array of firms in other industries. But it's making a few enemies along the way. Among the angry is the SCO...

....NewsMakers....NewsMakers....NewsMakers....
February 1, 2004... Misys Buys IQ Financial Move over, techies. The big guy on the block now has six-pack abs. Misys has acquired New York-based IQ Financial Systems, a majority-held unit of Deutsche Bank, for $40 million in cash. With this move, Misys...

Top Tech Deals.
February 1, 2004... 1. Sungard Trading and Risk Services has acquired the White Light Basel II solution, which will expand Basel II compliance. 2. Kana, a Canadian CRM vendor, will buy Hipbone, which provides on-line customer interaction software for financial...

WorkScape's Hope: May The Force Be with You.
February 1, 2004... Workscape, a provider of benefits and workforce management products, has released OneForce, a portfolio of self-service and workforce management applications that includes its enterprise compensation management software OneForce/Compensation...

Odds & Ends.
February 1, 2004... First Union Federal Credit Union of Bristol, CT, has chosen Open Solutions's The Complete Credit Union Solution to provide complete in-house data processing for its 14,000 members. The CU, with more than $80 million in assets, has three...

The Politics of Spending Overseas.
February 1, 2004... The fight over shipping tech jobs overseas is becoming more political than ever, and is nudging its way into the presidential campaign. Some of the biggest honchos in American technology business are starting to fire back at critics of...

Techies.
February 1, 2004... David Ruddock was promoted to evp of information technology and operations at S&T Bank. Swiss-German derivatives exchange Eurex appointed Satish Nandapurkar as CEO of its U.S. futures exchange. Donald Serpico joined Chicago Mercantile Exchange...

Message Board.
February 1, 2004... "If banks start issuing Amex cards, you'll see more innovation and competition." Avivah Litan, vp, Gartner Inc. on the need for American Express to press into the Visa-MasterCard marketplace. "We have fewer economies of scale or...

By the Numbers.
February 1, 2004... In the last 18 months, the North American credit card market has begun to seriously consider the opportunities that exist in going "contactless," or using standardized radio frequency technologies to enhance and enable convenience-based...

Savvy Banking With A Small-Town Feel.
February 1, 2004... First Arkansas Bank and Trust has enjoyed all the fruits that being a community bank can bring-the close relationships with partners and customers built over a half century, being a member of the community, and conducting business in a manner...

Electronic Statements: Statements That Service: Franklin Templeton makes its statements more interactive and functional for customers.
February 1, 2004... The time lag between getting account and transaction information and acting on it is getting shorter at Franklin Templeton, largely because it's tapping into new technology that's making electronic statements broader and more functional than...

Wachovia's Giving Its Back End Front-Line Attention.
February 1, 2004... One of the nation's largest banks, Wachovia, has implemented technology from one of the world's largest companies, Microsoft, that allows the bank's huge staff to see all there is to see about their customers, everything from accounts to...

Say Goodnight To Money Laundering: Dr. Jim Goodnight, that is. As CEO of SAS Institute, he's knee-deep in helping banks fight money launderers. His next bet? Use business analytics to root out suspect behavior on Wall Street.
February 1, 2004... To many people outside finance, money laundering became a real issue following the horrible events of September 11th. Thwarting money laundering efforts-whether by terrorists, drug traffickers or a wide-ranging gaggle of white-collar...

Outsourcing's Getting More Remote.
February 1, 2004... When it comes to the topic of remotely accessing financial institutions, a curious thing has happened since 2000-an evolution that shows how much views have changed on the Internet's role in making operations efficient, secure and profitable....

2004 Guide To Outsourcing.
February 1, 2004... Fidelity Information Services 601 Riverside Avenue Jacksonville, FL 32204 Tel: 800.847.7359; 501.220.4126 Internet: fidelityinformationservices.com Principal in charge of financial services: William P. Foley, chairman...

Payments: The Rush To Fill c2it's Void.
February 1, 2004... While the closing of Citigroup's long-struggling c2it on-line money transfer service in November caught a lot of headlines, it was but a single move on the global on-line payments chess board. It's a game that's heating up fast, particularly on...

Web Banks are also Waiting for Check 21 Windfall.
February 1, 2004... The check clearing for the 21st Century Act will not only be a boon to retail banks, but also to Web banks, which are lining up for a whole new source of customers. "The major trend, that the volume of checks has to be deposited, is going...

Danvers' Switch to Intranet.com Streamlines Data.
February 1, 2004... Despite having a three-year old intranet, the 250-person staff at Danvers Savings Bank found itself increasingly paper-laden and inefficient. E-mail was well used, perhaps overused, with attachments galore that needed to be printed. Hard-copy...

Why Wireless Banking Isn't a Hit Yet with Consumers.
February 1, 2004... In the technology heyday of the 1990s and early 2000s, it was as if every Old Economy sector from banking to waste management was at risk of extinction. Get with the program or die, experts said. So banks rolled out new technology for...

DMB Aims to Give Customers a Whole New Image.
February 1, 2004... DMB community bank plans to roll out a new e-statement platform in March that it hopes will help customers better deal with obligations to Uncle Sam that come up in April. Thomas Spitz, president and CEO of the DeForest, WI-based bank, says the...

Branches Need to Be Refurbished.
February 1, 2004... Branch banking is experiencing a resurgence of automation. Tagged as "branch renewal," financial institutions are again giving attention to this vital, yet almost neglected, customer delivery channel. Branches are being asked to "provide...

Bad Guys Raise the Bar For Banks.
February 1, 2004... In an effort to fight fraud, the financial institution where I used to bank implemented a minimum three-day hold policy on any deposited check, regardless of whether the customer could cover it or not. The policy was not well communicated to...

Biometrics Are Opening Many Eyes.
February 1, 2004... Signature verification, the authentication technology used by banks for centuries, replaced a more primitive method of identification: biometrics. Before the age of literacy, physical characteristics were the defining method for ensuring who...

Password Pitfalls.
February 1, 2004... CUSTOMER ENVIRONMENT Forgotten Password * Blocks Access to Data * Creates Customer Dissatisfaction * Time Consuming to Replace Easy to Guess/Written Down Passwords * Increases Account Vulnerability Contested...