Bank Technology News articles from May 2003

Bank Technology News archives from May 2003

IMAGING: Getting Serious About Check 21.
May 1, 2003... Banks rev up technology as legislation gets closer with federal legislation pending to give electronically imaged checks the same legal status as paper checks, more banks are looking seriously into imaging technology. "So far, the...

COMPLIANCE: Age of Tech's Transparency: The Patriot Act could be just the beginning.
May 1, 2003... Disclosing financial services activities in greater detail then ever before has become a way of life for institutions, and just as firms get a grip on what's required and how expensive it's going to be, the chatter mill is buzzing of even more...

OUTSOURCING: Banking Decisions On Core Data: HomeStreet Jobs Out its Data Management.
May 1, 2003... Homestreet bank is on the move. With $1.7 billion in assets, the mortgage-driven Seattle bank is aggressively expanding its retail banking operations across the Northwest. First step: outsourcing the institution's core data processing. The...

Privacy and Regulation: Can They Co-Exist Peacefully?: Privacy advocates have long abhorred any regulation that gives corporations, institutions and the government greater access to information about individuals.
May 1, 2003... Privacy advocates have long abhorred any regulation that gives corporations, institutions and the government more information about individuals than they would otherwise choose to divulge themselves. One horrendous day of terrorism, the passage...

....NewsMakers....NewsMakers....NewsMakers..........(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Wells is Tops for Gomez Gomez Internet Banker Scorecard is out and Wells Fargo has surpassed Citibank for the first time in the Scorecard's five-year history. Wells's rise is attributed to its on-line deposit statement archive and other...

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS: First Data Finally Grabs Concord.
May 1, 2003... But the deal finds itself under a regulatory microscope now that first data has finally pulled the trigger, will federal regulators stick their fingers in the barrel? In a widely anticipated move, First Data Corp. inked an agreement with...

Top Tech Deals.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... 1. Moneris, one of North America's largest transaction processors, has agreed to offer its card services to Pitney Bowes' 700,000 small business customers. 2. Akita Savings Bank has reached an agreement with Commercial Banking...

A Fiserv First: Courting a Foreign-Card Cash Cow.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Fiserv is not the first company that comes to mind when considering credit card technology. In the U.S., that space is reserved for MBNA, American Express, Capital One and Bank One. But execs at the Brookfield, WI-based technology firm are...

Slow Going for Insurers' Technology Budgets.
May 1, 2003... Remember the y2k bug? well, all that scuffling over a problem whose actual severity is debatable is still a factor that's crimping insurers' technology budgets. Jamie Bisker, research director of the insurance practice at TowerGroup, says...

Behind the Scenes, Canandaigua Smartens Up.
May 1, 2003... The name of the game today, says Joe Dugan, is increasing your share of existing customers' wallets. Problem is, when you're the svp of sales and marketing at Canandaigua National Bank, a upstate New York community bank, you're competing for...

Lenders Making Aggressive Portfolio Conversions.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... These days it's all about reducing operating costs, increasing efficiency and installing flexible systems that support quick changes in service offerings-all promised in a systems conversion project. So why isn't everyone signing up? Well,...

Turning Hackers Into Upstanding Security Guards.
May 1, 2003... Regulatory enforcement of the financial privacy and safeguard provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act is starting in earnest this year, and banks realize they don't have the security experts on staff to comply and, even worse, the talent pool...

Web Gambling Isn't Patriotic for PayPal.
May 1, 2003... PayPal's rolling snake eyes in the Internet gambling game-or at least that's what the government says. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri says eBay's on-line payment arm broke the Patriot Act between fall 2001 and summer...

TECHIES.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Frank Martire is the new president and CEO at Metavante, replacing Joseph Delgadillo, who's resigning as chairman, president and CEO. Martire was named president of Metavante's financial services group in January; his career path has included...

Message Board.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... "You can't just post a message and hope that somebody comes in and gets that message." Ken Beer, director of product management, Tumbleweed on the need for tracking the progress of e-mails, so institutions know how they are being used and...

By the Numbers.
May 1, 2003... When it comes to customer service, bank customers still want to talk to an actual person when they dial into a call center, but that may change. Genie Driskill, COO and svp of research for Synergistics, says of the two components of telephone...

Separately Managed Accounts: The Next Tech Overhaul: SMAs are no longer a luxury. But they're behind the automation parade, so a crack CIO is needed.
May 1, 2003... As the newest "it product," the separately managed account, is rapidly becoming an indispensable investment tool in banks' wealth management toolboxes. And with assets projected to grow annually at 23 percent, SMAs are poised to become the...

Hedge Funds: Ensuring Trade Compliance Globally: Misys pledges to help firms maintain trading regulations worldwide, and transactions are checked in real time.
May 1, 2003... With all of the scandal, issues of corporate governance and conflicts of interest that rained upon on Wall Street over the past few years, financial services firms are expecting new regulations to be placed within the U.S. financial markets....

The Anatomy of an Anomaly: How A traditional institution like Bank Of America is making huge waves in the internet banking business.
May 1, 2003... She's worried about her kid's backpack. She thinks her kid is hungry. She's trying to fix a snack and she's trying to do it quickly. She's got a laptop on the kitchen counter where she should be preparing food. She chooses popcorn....

Armed And On-line.
May 1, 2003... Just outside of the five million-plus Internet banking users that BofA has logging on everyday, there's a smaller, separate section of on-line users who have found Web banking, not out of convenience, but necessity. They may be stationed...

E-mail Delivery: Getting Only the Right Documents: Security software weeds out spam and tracks usage.
May 1, 2003... Banks ranging in size from Wells Fargo to South Carolina's First Reliance are responding to an array of e-mail potholes by deploying electronic editors to perform a variety of tasks, including customer service, securing on-line delivery of...

Putting the Same Program on All Channels: Institutions deploy new cross-channel automation.
May 1, 2003... In the multi-channel world of the new banking millennium, the task of getting desktop automation at the branch, call center and ATM to work with each other and the back office quickly and reliably has carried all the glamour and fun of Middle...

Toyota Takes Aim at Banks and Bad Credit Borrowers.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... There's pressure building on auto financiers like Toyota Financial Services from all sides, with intense competition from other financial institutions and troubled consumer credit leading the way. One weapon in its arsenal to tackle both is...

How to Catch Absentee Bank Robbers.(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2003... Bank robbery is still big business in America. From Jesse James to John Dillinger and Willie Sutton, bank robbers have always been among America's most glamorously infamous figures, and holdups still make the evening news every time. But most...

Payment Evolution Shapes Technology Strategy: In this special supplement to Bank Technology News, we'll explore the latest trends and developments in payment systems to help banks best spend their technology dollars.(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2003... Each year, banks allocate an increasing amount of their technology budget to payment systems. TowerGroup, in fact, reports that spending by the global banking industry is expected to reach $14.3 billion in just three years. Spending these...

And You Thought You Never Heard of eFUNDS.: The name eFunds Corporation might be unfamiliar, but you can bet the products and services are not Funds Corporation is the offspring of Deluxe Electronic Payment Systems (DEPS), a former division of Deluxe Corporation. Ring any bells?
May 1, 2003... Our name is relatively new, but our heritage is deep. The formation of eFunds in 2000 brought together some of the strongest names in risk management and electronic transaction processing. Our leading ChexSystemsSM account verification service...

Convenience Customization Control: Corillian's Voyager platform is the best choice for financial institutions looking for the utmost in power and flexibility to manage their payments process.
May 1, 2003... The continued evolution of consumer and business payments toward electronic and online transactions demands a new approach to technology. Financial institutions require flexible, customizable solutions that can help them decrease costs and...

DATA MANAGEMENT: Searching for More Storage: Conseco Finance is looking to boost storage capacity by implementing software that enhances data infrastructure.(uses DataCore's SANsymphony)
May 1, 2003... With each passing quarter, firms have more data to store and less money to address the issue, forcing electronic vaults housing information to take on added capacity. For Conseco Finance, storage requirements led to the creation of a core data...

How to Protect Your Systems When Disaster Strikes.
May 1, 2003... Three of merrill lynch & co. inc.'s trading floors were knocked out, along with wholesale portions of its network infrastructure and applications environment. Morgan Stanley lost everything in its headquarters and had to track down 3,528...

Automating Loan Second Reviews.
May 1, 2003... Financial institutions are facing scrutiny on many fronts. Profits are flagging, margins are shrinking and managing costs has become paramount. Add an uncertain economic climate where business growth options are limited, as well as heightened...

Small Banks Can Win Merchant Processing Battle.
May 1, 2003... Savings and loans organizations and banks face a seemingly insurmountable challenge: how to continue offering merchants the personal relationships unique to "small" banks while retaining the prices, choices and flexibility that allows them to...

Good Customer ID is a Major Part of Compliance.(finding the right product)(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2003... Complying with section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act means having an effective Customer Identification Program (CIP). But even more important to more financial institutions is the need to protect themselves from fraud. The Federal Trade Commission...

Weighing Business Implications.
May 1, 2003... Executives in all industries, especially financial services, are being challenged to justify future increases in technology investments after being on the short end of unfulfilled vendor promises and experiencing the misguided drive to...

The Changing Face of CRM in Financial Institutions.(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2003... In the wake of skepticism about enterprisewide CRM implementations, many in the financial services industry are shying away from large-scale implementations of customer service technology. With a tough economy and stiffer competition, every...

Standards Emerge for E-Payments.
May 1, 2003... At one time or another, everyone faces the frustration of dealing with different standards. Whether it be currencies or measurement units, electrical plugs or cell phones, the objects and appliances may differ, but the issues stay the same. The...

A Makeover For Wealth Management.(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2003... As many of today's most progressive institutions strive to deliver wealth management services to the growing market of mass affluent, new technologies have emerged to make the task easier-and boost enterprisewide profits at the same time. ...