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Bank Systems & Technology: The Blog

« September 2005 | Main | November 2005 »

Hey, chalk one up for the good guys.

http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=14451

A small victory in the fight against credit card fraud is better than none.
Of course, this will probably only slow down the crooks, not stop them completely.
Any thoughts?

IBM's banking industry leaders Mark Greene and Rusty Wiley have been on the road talking about their vision for the industry. Now, you can take their viewpoints on the road using your portable digital audio player with their latest podcast.

I sense the emergence of a media trend...

When banking regulators expressed concern about borrowers getting deeper and deeper into credit card debt, the major card-issuing banks increased their minimum payment requirements from two percent to four percent of outstanding balances. But one bank's making a high-profile move in the other direction.

My colleague Chris Murphy reports on the move to two-factor authentication in today's episode of the News Show.

This week's newsletter has a story on Wachovia's implementation of remote deposit capture (RDC).

In it, we revisit the debate over whether RDC is best done using thick-client or a thin-client software. Given the obvious benefits of the software and the competitive need for it, what's your take on the relative merits of the two approaches? Or does it matter?

Please leave your comments on this blog entry.

With the FFIEC's guidance stating that banks should implement two-factor authentication for Internet services that involve sensitive customer information or movement of funds, the status quo in information security in banking has been quickly overturned.

Just finished the CIO issue. Hope all of you enjoy it.

From Greenspan's speech to the National Italian American Foundation:

Conceptual advances in pricing options and other complex financial products, along with improvements in computer and telecommunications technologies, have significantly lowered the costs of, and expanded the opportunities for, hedging risks that were not readily deflected in earlier decades. The new instruments of risk dispersal have enabled the largest and most sophisticated banks, in their credit-granting role, to divest themselves of much credit risk by passing it to institutions with far less leverage. Insurance companies, especially those in reinsurance, pension funds, and hedge funds continue to be willing, at a price, to supply credit protection.

These increasingly complex financial instruments have contributed to the development of a far more flexible, efficient, and hence resilient financial system than the one that existed just a quarter-century ago (right before Greenspan took office in 1987). After the bursting of the stock market bubble in 2000, unlike previous periods following large financial shocks, no major financial institution defaulted, and the economy held up far better than many had anticipated.

If we have attained a degree of flexibility that can mitigate most significant shocks--a proposition as yet not fully tested--the performance of the economy will be improved and the job of macroeconomic policymakers will be made much simpler.

Translation:
Chances are, the banking system has everything under control, so don't worry about my successor even if you've never heard of the person before.

When the lookout on the Titanic warned the officers on the bridge that the infamous iceberg was looming ahead, first officer William McMaster Murdoch had the engines stopped and reversed. He then ordered the quartermaster to turn the ship hard to port. Bad move. The iceberg sliced through the first five of 16 transverse compartments of the hull. If the ship had hit the iceberg head on, the ship likely would have limped home, and we would have been spared the sight of Leonardo DiCaprio on the bow of the ship claiming to be the king of the world. Some king. The ship sank.

With Hurricane Katrina playing the role of the iceberg, the deck officers of the United States of America are relatively fortunate in that they have the time to figure out how best to distribute the damage.

Earlier this week, I attended the Global Grid Forum.

From The News Show, here's part one and part two of my interview with the Chairman of GGF, Mark Linesch.

I also attended a session concerning Bank of America's grid implementation.

Wall Street Journal article about the "rising financial peril" faced by storm victims.

Letter from House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.)

"The loss of income and additional expenses that these victims incur as a result of a hurricane or other natural disaster are implicitly the kind of special circumstances that Congress envisioned would constitute an exception to the [Bankruptcy] Act's means test reforms."

The response from Assistant Attorney General William Moschella:

- no need for credit counseling for storm victims.
- field personnel were instructed to exercise "appropriate restraint and discretion favorable to hurricane victims."

Here's a New York Times story about Liberty Bank and Trust, which is trying to recover from Katrina, as well as the steady depletion of its assets as customers withdraw their savings.

Bank of America Offers Round-Up Savings Account

Source: Reuters.com

If you sign up for Bank of America's new service, every time you charge something on a debit card, they'll round up to the nearest dollar and put the loose change in a savings account. Now if they only rounded up to the nearest $100, we would have a fighting chance of increasing our savings rate to the point where we wouldn't have to borrow money from abroad to finance our profligate lifestyles.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to book my next European vacation, make dinner reservations for tonight, and show those online punks who's the REAL king of Texas Hold' Em.

... an 1821 hurricane lifted the tide 13 feet in an hour, with the East and Hudson rivers converging over lower Manhattan as far north as Canal Street.
Hurricane in NYC Could Happen, With Subways and Wall Street Flooding and Millions Evacuating

Between terrorism and storms, I'm not sure whether to buy a bunker or build an ark.

"I had this woman on the phone telling me that I was not only a deadbeat, but a pimp, too."
- Paul Fairchild, identity theft victim

New York Times, Oct. 1, 2005
For Victims, Repairing ID Theft Can Be Grueling

Yeah, I hear that all the time.

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