Bank Technology News articles from June 2005

Bank Technology News archives from June 2005

Security And Authentication: Internet IDs Are Getting More Beef: Increasing theft means a new look at user safety.
June 1, 2005... About 30 percent of T. Rowe Price's new accounts are opened on-line, and in a bid to tighten security in the Internet channel, the mutual fund company has teamed up with GeoTrust to implement a real-time identification tool that validates the...

Automating Forex: E-FX Gains Ground: Big players are eyeing array of new platforms.(electronic foreign exchange)
June 1, 2005... Currency options are the latest products being added to electronic foreign exchange (FX) platforms amid an overall rise in the cash market's volume, and it's causing the likes of ABN Amro, Bank of America and HSBC to take notice. GFI...

Starting A New Bank: The Market's Tough. So Is The IT Curve.: The tech battle is a challenging one for de novos.(Tri-Valley Bank)
June 1, 2005... Between them, William Nethercott and John Rockwell have 51 years of experience in extending credit, but virtually none in managing technology. That meant the two top executives of Tri-Valley Bank had plenty to learn before the expected opening...

Edit Index.(Illustration)
June 1, 2005... A ABN Amro 1 American Express 36, 38 Archipelago 42 B Baker Hill 12 Bank of America 1 Bay Commercial Bank...

NYSE Versus NASDAQ: Great Minds Think Alike. Eventually.
June 1, 2005... For CIOs keeping score as to how technology is redefining financial services, the New York Stock Exchange's decision to acquire Archipelago amounts to one big "I told you so." It should also serve as a key indicator of the price of maintaining...

Data Safety: Heritage Hires A Watchdog For Laptops: The California bank deploys software that erases information when external hardware is lost or stolen.
June 1, 2005... Heritage Bank of Commerce is worried about what can happen to the reams of sensitive customer and corporate data if its laptops are lifted by crooks, so much so that it's setting a trap that destroys the vital information in the case of a...

News Makers.(SVPCO Check Image Exchange )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Phishing's big haul: one in 20 BITE First Data reports its survey on fraud found two million phishing victims in the past year. "Close to five percent of phishing attempts are successful, despite significant efforts by the financial...

Payments: CheckFree Seeks to Seal an ARC Loophole for Crooks: NACHA says there's a crack in check processing rules that's potentially exposing corporate checks to electronic crime and fraud. CheckFree aims to plug the ARC hole.(National Automated Clearing House Association, accounts receivable conversion)
June 1, 2005... There's a loophole in ARC that's causing some corporate checks to clear-in violation of industry rules and without going through fraud detectors. It's an emerging safety breach that has the clearing industry examining possible changes to the...

Top Tech Deals.(Med-i-Bank)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Number One As part of the launch of Experian Interactive, Experian acquired LowerMyBills.com, an on-line mortgage lead generator. The price was $330 million, plus a performance-related earnout of up to $50 million. Number Two ...

Volume: Trading Gets Busy, So Exchanges Look At Hardware: Nasdaq, the NYSE and European bourses are worried about absorbing spikes, so they're considering a wide array of tech options. And vendors are lining up to give pitches.
June 1, 2005... A big spike in message traffic recorded at Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year has underlined the importance of upgrading systems to handle data influxes expected because of the boosts in electronic trading. To handle...

Unsafe Info: Despite Protections, Data Remains At Risk: Experts say storage practices are still faulty, leaving sensitive information vulnerable to exposure.
June 1, 2005... Fortiva CEO Paul Chen managed to find yet another lesson that big business can learn from Enron, though this one has nothing to do with insider trading, cooked financial books or alleged ties to the Bush Administration. "We downloaded the...

Techies.(appointments, promotions etc.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... James Yee was elected EVP and CIO at UnionBanCal Corp., parent company of Union Bank of California. Yee was most recently svp, information technology at Charles Schwab & Co. * Tony Catalfano was named president of Fiserv CBS Worldwide, a...

Message Board.
June 1, 2005... "You start where people travel the most." Chris Musto, vp, Watchfire GomezPro, on creating a Web analytics strategy. "It's a problem as the underworld becomes aware." Jacob Jegher, senior analyst, Celent, on the vulnerability of...

Brazilian Technology Companies Flock to U.S.: Government initiatives have helped drive the increasingly successful forays.
June 1, 2005... Backed by their vast experience with sophisticated banks at home, new government initiatives and the growing trend towards offshoring, Brazilian technology vendors are scurrying to provide solutions to U.S. financial institutions. They also are...

Politec: Providing Your Nearshore Outsourcing Solution.
June 1, 2005... With economic globalization, offshore IT outsourcing is set to grow rapidly. In fact, as a percentage of U.S. IT spending, offshore outsourcing is expected to increase from 5% to 23% by the year 2007. Many financial institutions decide to...

Foreign IT Firms Learn the Samba: Suitors vie to woo Brazil's large and technologically-sophisticated banks.
June 1, 2005... Brazilian banks like Banco Bradesco, Banco Itau and Unibanco have been on the forefront of bank technology for years. The prowess of such leading financial institutions and the sheer size of Brazil are encouraging international technology...

Fidelity: Software and solutions for all financial institutions and all platforms.
June 1, 2005... With its rich experience and versatile software, Fidelity Information Services is without equal in the marketplace. Not only does the company have almost 20 years of experience in Latin America and the Caribbean-and 35 years worldwide-but it...

Expanding, One Office at a Time.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Fidelity took one step further in its successful expansion in Latin America when it opened an office in Lima, Peru, in March of this year. "The sufficient availability of local resources with experience in our software and having multiple...

It Outsourcing: What Jobs Banks And Insurers Are Jobbing Out: Financial firms are expressing more interest in technology upgrades, particularly in consulting and integration. Insurers are looking at applications and networks.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... When financial services firms open up the IT spending spigot this year, the money for outsourcing is going to pour into application development and implementation. And it will rain down at a higher rate at banks than with insurance companies...

Corillian's InteliData Deal Spawns Big Plans.
June 1, 2005... When struggling e-bill payment firm InteliData Technologies Corp. needed a partner to rescue it from poor performance, rival Corillian Corp. opened the door in April-and brought InteliData in from the cold. Corillian is expected to close on the...

Cards: Amex Flexes Its Muscles Overseas: The financial firm's strategy of opening its merchant network to third parties has led to a flurry of deals in locales as familiar as the U.K. and as far-flung as Bulgaria, Latvia and Africa.
June 1, 2005... American Express's long-term, global strategy of opening its merchant network and card product portfolio to third-party issuers has born quite a bit of fruit of late, with a raft of deals announced by Amex's European operations. Three new...

Contactless Cards: JPMorgan's New Entry Makes Other Guys 'Blink'.
June 1, 2005... In May, JPMorgan Chase & Co. became the first major bank credit card issuer to commit to widespread use of new card technology that provides contactless payments. The new credit cards have an embedded silicon chip that transmits payment...

Offshoring: Philippines situates itself as alternative: Nation pitches itself as outsourcing choice for financial services. Citibank, HSBC and American Express are on board.
June 1, 2005... The Philippines is becoming a global hub for outsourcing for U.S. banks and credit card companies, and the nation isn't shy about asking more firms to come on over. According to Eugene Reyes, trade representative at the Philippine Trade &...

Sales Prospects: County's Tellers Will Tell About New Leads: Experts say the industry is still unsure about how much tellers should be involved in cross-sell efforts, but Pa.'s County National Bank is sure the teller window is a great place to find leads.
June 1, 2005... County National Bank isn't planning on turning its tellers into salespeople, but that doesn't mean customer-facing personnel are left out of the sales equation entirely. "We want the people who talk to the customers the most to get...

Targeted Marketing: Dreyfus' Customers Get The E-message: The mutual-fund firm finds a new way to achieve personalized communications, upgrade electronic discourse with its customers, and save time and money. It's all about e-mail.
June 1, 2005... Financial firms are still figuring out the best way to use e-mail and other electronic channels to personalize communication with customers. Dreyfus hopes it's found a way to accomplish that goal, with an opt-in automated marketing strategy...

Irreconcilable Differences?(consolidations in the name of innovation)
June 1, 2005... The anti-NYSE vitriol of Archipelago's Jerry Putnam is over, now that ArcaEx is getting hitched with the Big Board. But competitors aren't ready to succumb to niceties or surrender the entire exchange market to NYSE or the new NASDAQ,...

Changing Of The Guard.(security)(TraceSecurity)
June 1, 2005... When security vendors used to attempt to call on bank CEOs and CFOs, they'd typically get ignored or handed off to the IT department. Those days are long gone. Fraud is becoming trickier to combat and posing more reputational risk for...

Web Analytics: Measuring On-line Underperformers: As Web operations get increasingly complex, measuring performance isn't easy. So some firms are turning to analytical software to find out what's underperforming.
June 1, 2005... For Michael Bellopede, the Internet has made the transition from theoretical science to applied science-or, more to the point, it's moved from an alternative delivery channel to a full-blown business operation. And like any business, some areas...

Incentive Pay: Compensating for Good Relationships: Banks are incenting salespeople to create new accounts, but some of the funds are merely transferred from CDs closed at the same bank. Products help sort incentive fact from fiction.
June 1, 2005... Banks don't have to rob Peter to pay Paul when it comes to running multifaceted incentive-pay programs. Sometimes, Paul can earn his own way. Take, for instance, an institution that brought in a Peter-Djokovich, CEO of incentive-management...

Payments Processing: Planned Pan-euro System Is Rife With Hope, Holes.(single euro payments area)
June 1, 2005... Twelve countries. Twelve national ACHs. Twelve different sets of rules for payments processing. One eurozone. Can the European Union expect to see a single euro payments area (SEPA) by 2010? It's a tough proposition, and one not likely to occur...

How the Web Can Boost Debt Collections.
June 1, 2005... Consumer bankruptcy filings increased to 1.625 million in 2003, up 5.5 percent from the previous year according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. At the same time, the government agency reported that average credit card and car...

Using Innovation And the Law to Fight Fraud.
June 1, 2005... Throughout history, fraud has plagued individuals and organizations. Brilliant people have come up with innumerable ways to take advantage of others for nefarious financial gain. As these schemes have become more sophisticated, financial...

Taking a Portfolio Approach to IT Can Pay Off.
June 1, 2005... Few industries are as affected by changing economic market conditions as banking. Uncertain economic conditions necessitate changes in corporate strategy that directly impact the mix of IT projects and applications chosen to support the...

Realizing Enterprise VoIP's Vast Potential for Trading.
June 1, 2005... Financial institutions have long become accustomed to leveraging their data networks and resources across their entire corporate enterprise. Logging on to your desktop remotely, accessing files, regardless of your location-and as if you were at...