Bank Technology News articles from October 2004

Bank Technology News archives from October 2004

Models: Predicting The Future With A New Tool: E-analytics get more accurate and detailed.
October 1, 2004... If you've ever had a date cancelled with someone from a ratings agency, it's pretty easy to predict how it went. "I'm sorry, I can't make it. I'm going to have to work all weekend on the model." And the model they're speaking of is a...

Mortgage: Refi Ebb Equals Internet Flow: Lenders use the lull to beef up on-line.
October 1, 2004... Now that the refinancing boom has abated, many mortgage lenders once too busy to review their old technology have the breathing room-not to mention the real business need-to update and streamline their operations to capture the predicted growth...

Spending: Fear, Regulation Are Driving IT Spend: Continuity and compliance to drive investment.
October 1, 2004... Bank CIOs have their hands full these days. As financial institutions weigh the likely impact of natural disasters, terrorism, fraud and regulation on their businesses, many are expected to loosen their IT purse strings in an attempt to tackle...

Edit Index.(Illustration)
October 1, 2004... A ABS Ventures 28 Adeptra 28 AdviceAmerica 46 American Express 28 Ameritrade 25 Analytic Innovations 29 Avalanche Technology Coop. 17 B Bank of America 29 ...

Fraud is Rising, But Victims, Banks are Fighting It.
October 1, 2004... Talk about fraud in banking circles and one will inevitably hit a nerve. That became apparent last month when I penned a commentary on the frustrations customers face when they become victims of fraud, and how bank employees often exacerbate...

Communications: Next-generation Im Opens Two More Pandora's Boxes: Is technology that combines IM with file-sharing and VoIP an innovation or a conduit for even more viruses?(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Skype, an innovative free application combining file-sharing, instant messaging and voice-over IP phone calls, has been tapped by every major Wall Street bank. Embodying the convergence craved by bankers and traders forced to use no fewer...

News Makers.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Mortgage fraud is booming, says FBI Fraud in the mortgage industry-which includes the booming on-line sub-industry-is up nearly 190 percent from 2001. In the first nine months of 2004, mortgage companies and banks reported 12,100 instances...

Top Tech Deals.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Numberone eFunds, a provider of risk- management, electronic payments, ATM and global outsourcing products, has extended its strategic alliance with BISYS, which sells business process outsourcing products for the financial sector. ...

Payments: Green Giant Amex Wants Its Processing Arm Back: Challenged with lukewarm earnings, the card company is looking to regain an outsourced business.
October 1, 2004... Global credit card giant American Express is making moves to get into another business-one it has long since farmed out to third parties-merchant processing. In between the point a cardholder buying a watch at Lord & Taylor swipes his...

Regulations: Sox Compliance Is No Place For Competition: The Integration Consortium and Avalanche offer safe places to share information on staying inside the law.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
October 1, 2004... One of the most challenging aspects to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance is that the legislation is a moving target. If you're compliant now, the winds of business change may place you out of compliance in a few months. "Companies are getting a...

Takeover Hostility: Oracle Asks For Customer Trust After Antitrust Ruling: The DOJ's case gets shot down. Now the software giant is trying to calm PeopleSoft's customers.(United States. Department of Justice)
October 1, 2004... Acquisitions are never nice when the target doesn't want to be acquired, and Oracle's bid to buy PeopleSoft is about as nasty as it gets. The latest chapter includes a ruling that Oracle isn't breaking antitrust rules, and Oracle is attempting...

Techies.(appointments)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... John Von Stein joins The Options Clearing Corp. as evp and CIO. Fiserv Inc. names Michael Gantt as president of the Fiserv Bank Systems & eProducts Group. Diebold Election Systems appoints Wayne Irvin as compliance officer. Bill Riffert joins...

Message Board.
October 1, 2004... "It's not going over budget. It's going to jail." Michael Kuhbock, founder and co-chair of the Integration Consortium, on the importance of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, regardless of its expense "When you try to get them to remove it,...

Fraud Prevention: Which Fraud Controls Are Right for Your Bank?: Banks consider losses of four to 10 basis points of net income, on average, manageable. Still, it's money lost.
October 1, 2004... Sure, ID theft is relatively new and still considered an emerging threat, but banks forget how many traditional types of frauds have actually dropped in the last decade, thanks to good fraud-detection products, according to Financial Insights...

A New Age Dawns For Disaster Recovery: TowerGroup's Virginia Garcia looks at business continuity way past the post-9/11 era. She still sees lots of holes.(Interview)
October 1, 2004... The sting of 2001's terrorist attacks will never fully wear off-the blows were so severe that it's hard to believe three full years have passed. But that's enough time to examine what the financial industry has done to protect itself from...

Trading: BPS Wants To Level The Brokerage Field: The Canadian firm is taking aim at the securities industry's smaller, tech-challenged regional players. But at least one analyst says these firms might be a little resistant.(Broker Payment Systems, Cameron Chell)
October 1, 2004... Broker Payment Systems in Calgary, Canada, was founded by Cameron Chell, one of that country's hottest and youngest dot.com entrepreneurs. Now BPS is taking aim at the North American securities industry's 2,800 small, regional brokerage firms...

Mortgages: Calculators Aren't In 'relics' Pile Yet: Mortgage calculators are almost a product by themselves, used by buyers and lenders like Countrywide, Wells Fargo, Progressive and World Savings to lure customers and figure out loan rates and costs.
October 1, 2004... It's tough being in the calculator business, particularly in the age of Internet and PCs. As screens and PDAs proliferate, the calculator seems to stick out as a throwback to another era. The old computational handheld seems quaint even,...

Cards: The Art Of Cutting Collections Costs: Big card players are tapping Adeptra's ART to save on credit card functions like payments, fraud alerts and new card activation. Its automated system also helps facilitate delinquent-customer calls.(Automated Resolution Technology)
October 1, 2004... Zeroing in on credit card companies' need to cut the costs of managing fraud, collections and activation of new cards received in the mail, a U.K.- and Connecticut-based company called Adeptra has quietly accumulated an impressive list of the...

Mortgages: The Citi Never Sleeps. Just Its Data.: With the banking giant's mortgage business growing by leaps and bounds, Citi adopted Reveleus to rein in new data so customers get consistent, effective service. But is it working?(CitiMortgage Inc.)
October 1, 2004... There is no bulk like Citibank bulk. In sheer size, with the exception of some of the Japanese players, only a handful is near its trillion-dollar heft; and maybe only one other, HSBC, has its kind of international reach. With this kind of...

Forced to Face the Future.(Company Profile)
October 1, 2004... First National Bank of Olathe had only three loan officers to serve nine branches in the Kansas City suburbs. But when two retired at the same time, the bank found a way to keep growing-and protect itself from aggressive national competitors-by...

The Web generation calls for Extra Image vigilance: With more customers banking on-line than ever, there's a need to step up rigorous brand and marketing practices, lest banks see their public perception erode in the ether.
October 1, 2004... The impact of Internet activity on brand and the bottom line goes far beyond the business it brings. Financial firms must be careful to mitigate dubious marketing that can sweep in and damage even the strongest of brands. [paragraph] People use...

Electronic Payments: Turning a Cellphone Into a Mobile Wallet: A hit overseas, digital-content downloads are becoming hot credit vehicles in the U.S. thanks to firms like Valista and Qpass. Banks should take this threat seriously.(mobile micropayments service )
October 1, 2004... It would be wise for bank executives to pay close attention to a new threat, wireless payment efforts overseas. Of particular concern are moves by mobile providers to offer micro-payments and digital-content downloads-in essence, providing...

Investment Planning: NetBank Casts a Web to Advisors and Consumers: AdviceAmerica platform brings wealth management on-line, part of a rapidly growing trend in investment strategy.(AdviceAmerica Inc.)
October 1, 2004... The notion that self-directed service has a future in wealth management is getting a test at NetBank, which is rolling out a new Web-powered financial-planning platform that goes beyond needs-based analysis to actionable advice. Called...

Filters: SoCal CU Quells Its Spam Headaches: Commtouch technology is helps CU SoCal conquer its productivity-busting spam problem, whose inappropriate content also is prompting liability concerns. Problem solved.(Credit Union of Southern California)(CommTouch Software Ltd.)
October 1, 2004... X-rated spam was causing sexual-harassment concerns for the Credit Union of Southern California-until the $400 million CU started using spam-filtering software at its e-mail server and employee inboxes. "Information services began receiving...

Safety On A Budget: CUs Tap Patchplus To Plug Their Big Resource Holes: Patching is a major weapon in the security fight. But many small CUs lack the resources to do it on their own, forcing them to look at problems from outside technology firms.(Northeast Community Credit Union)
October 1, 2004... Diligent software patching can make or break network security for credit unions, or any financial institution for that matter. But Northeast Community Credit Union is one of many smaller CUs that just can't keep up the fight by using its own...

Authentication: Patelco Chooses Chexsystems To Combat Id Fraud: ChexSystems screens IDs in just a few seconds. That's helped the CU dramatically shave its fraud losses in just over a year.
October 1, 2004... Beset with the growing problem of fraud, Patelco Credit Union has deployed new software that's allowed it to notice potential ID theft trouble in new account applications in just three seconds, a move that has also helped it cut fraud losses by...

Fraud Detection: Ocwen's Limiting Keys To The Data Kingdom: New software doles out access privileges to combat inside jobs.(Ocwen Financial Corp.)
October 1, 2004... As important as solid firewalls are, Ocwen CIO Dale Pickford finds it just as vital to put out the security flames that flare up inside the organization-especially when part of the business deals with customer information from other...

Wells Fargo Urges Bold Steps to Control Pop-Up Ads.
October 1, 2004... The bombardment of pop-up advertisements on the Internet is the latest scourge facing computer users. These pests, known as "adware" and dubbed "spyware" by the FTC, are software that the computer user unknowingly installs, usually packaged...

XBRL Emerges as Key Standard in Business Reporting.(extensible business reporting language)
October 1, 2004... The movement toward improving the timeliness and accuracy of business reporting got a big boost last month when the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it is assessing for registrant submissions the benefits of a new data format,...

For the IT Biz, Financial Firms Demand Most.
October 1, 2004... In many of life's endeavors, there are everyday performances and then there are defining moments-the ultimate challenges that occur in "proving ground" places. For professional race-car drivers, it's the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor...

Improving E-Mail Management And Compliance.(financial services)
October 1, 2004... Regulatory compliance and the rapidly growing use of e-mail for business purposes have created a pressing need for organizations in the banking industry to reconsider the meaning of e-mail management. Financial institutions must re-evaluate the...