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Bank Systems & Technology: The Blog

« June 2007 | Main | August 2007 »

First, let me describe the arena this blog is about:

• "Large banks" include 145 financial institutions (FIs) operating in the U.S. The good people at Highline Data came up with 145, but I reduced it to 122 because I look at corporate entities, not charters.
• The list includes asset sizes of $8 billion to $1.3 trillion.

By Nancy Feig

The federal banking regulators on July 20 finally reached an agreement regarding the implementation of Basel II in the United States. The agreement will lead to the finalization of a rule implementing the advanced approaches for computing large, international banks' risk-based capital requirements.

For a while now, the trend in banking is to push consumers to use electronic statements. Whether to “keep green” or to just save some money, e-statements are pretty commonplace these days. Consumers seem to have accepted them.

ABN AMRO’s Boden says that corporate awareness of SEPA on the rise and the implications are broader than expected.

John O’Connor, chief credit officer of First Horizon National (Memphis, Tenn.) for 18 years, is nearing retirement age and is transitioning chief credit officer duties to Greg Olivier, who has worked for the company since December 2003. O’Connor will continue full-time until at least the end of the year and will remain in a consulting role until May 2008.

William Keiper, CEO of payments solutions provider Hypercom (Phoenix), is stepping down as CEO of the company and will be resign as a member of the board of directors effective Aug. 15, 2007. Philippe Tartavull, president of Hypercom, was promoted to chief operating officer effective immediately. Ian Marsh, EVP and managing director, Asia Pacific Region of the Western Union Company, was appointed a member of the board. Until a new CEO is found, the Hypercom will be directed by an interim office of the chairman comprised of Daniel Diethelm, chairman, Philippe Tartavull, president and COO, and Thomas Liguori, CFO.

By Maria Bruno-Britz, Bank Systems & Technology

Anyone who thought Coinstar was just a company that provided nifty change counters at the supermarket should think again. The company, which also offers such services at its kiosks as DVD rentals and gift cards, has made an acquisition that further strengthens its presence in the international remittance market.

Open Solutions (Glastonbury, Conn.), a provider of enterprise-wide data processing technologies, announced four contract renewals for its TotalPlus outsourced core data processing platform. The renewing banks include Columbia Bank (Fair Lawn, N.J.); OceanFirst Bank (Toms River, N.J.); Pentucket Bank (Haverhill, Mass.); and Ridgewood Savings Bank (Ridgewood, N.Y.).

Independent Banker’s Bank (Springfield, Ill.) selected the InTrader solution from SunGard (Hopkins, Minn.) for securities processing, clearance and settlement for bank treasury and investment portfolio management. IBB will use InTrader in an integrated ASP-based environment to help support business growth, achieve greater operational efficiencies and deliver enhanced services to more than 300 community banks across five states.

I have said several times that the bank tech industry is experiencing a lull. There's nothing brand new to buy. And most vendors are noticing the lull in their revenue figures.

By Maria Bruno-Britz, Bank Systems & Technology

I knew it wouldn’t take long.

A few weeks ago, I posted about an initiative by New York City and Visa to install credit card readers with contactless capabilities in all NYC cabs. Knowing how averse cabbies tend to be toward their fares paying by card, I was a little skeptical as to the success of this plan.

By Maria Bruno-Britz, Bank Systems & Technology

Sometimes I’m so wrapped up in our little banking world here that when I see the general public taking an interest in bank technology, I think it’s a pretty big deal.

While perusing the site Slashdot—which bills itself as providing News for Nerds—I noticed someone posted an excerpt from CNBC.com about the recent crop of mobile banking initiatives in the U.S.

By Nancy Feig

July 16-20, 2007

By Maria Bruno-Britz, Bank Systems & Technology

Denver-based e-commerce and payments solutions provider First Data named Michael Capellas its new CEO. following completion of the acquisition of the company by an affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR). Capellas will succeed Henry C. “Ric” Duques who has served as Chairman and CEO since November 2005, and previously served as Chairman from 1989 to 2003 and CEO from 1989 to 2002. Duques announced his intention to retire within two years when he returned to the Chairman and CEO roles in late 2005.

By Maria Bruno-Britz, Bank Systems & Technologyy

Hector Sants was appointed chief executive of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) as of July 20, 2007. Sants succeeds John Tiner, who will step down at the Annual Public Meeting on July 19.

By Maria Bruno-Britz, Bank Systems & Technology

People’s United Bank (Bridgeport, Conn.) will use Zurich-based security solutions provider Vasco’s Digipass GO3 and VACMAN Controller to protect their high-value transactions. The Digipass-secured applications include ACH, Wire Transfer, Information Reporting, Internal Transfers and Stop Payments Applications.

By Maria Bruno-Britz, Bank Systems & Technology
Capital Markets Cooperative (CMC; Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.), a provider of risk mitigation solutions to mortgage bankers, entered alliance with Fannie Mae (Washington, D.C.) that will help members of CMC when selling loans to the secondary market. CMC members will now enjoy access to Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter platform, in addition to benefits such as advantageous pricing, increased flexibility in methods of execution and a variety of loan products and value-added services.

By Maria Bruno-Britz, Bank Systems & Technology

Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks will use i-flex’s (Redwood Shores, Calif.) Reveleus Basel II Solution. The solution will span all activities of the bank including consumer, commercial, mortgage, private clients and capital markets.

By Nancy Feig

According to a new Celent report, The Millennials, Financial Services, and the Web, the “Millennial” generation, born between 1982 and 2000, will represent the next mass affluent group and financial institutions will need new marketing approaches to reach them.

I'm putting this question to the readers of Bank Systems and Technology because based on feedback that I have seen, some of you have the answer, whereas I don't.

By Nancy Feig
Consumers don’t trust banks. That’s what I’m hearing. New immigrants don’t trust banks because of bank failures in their home countries. Little old ladies store wads of cash in their mattresses because memories of the Great Depression still haunt them. These consumers often fall into the so-called “unbanked” or “underbanked” category, those that are hesitant to bring their money into any formal financial institution.

By Maria Bruno-Britz

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month, you were among the millions of people to hear about the launch of Apple’s iPhone. The handy little device is designed to serve all your on-the-go music playing, Web browsing and movie playing needs. Oh, and it’s a phone too, so you can actually make calls and you have your address book/contact functions thrown in there as well. I know there are other features, but this editorial can only be so long!

All too often, it seems I look at the news and see yet another agency in the federal government in trouble for some kind of lapse in data protection. Of course, the private sector is no less guilty, having faced its own share of security fiascos.

Fortunately, efforts are underway to implement a more universal approach to securing data, networks and all things IT.

It worked for Hercule Poirot; it should work for "investigators" in the bank tech world. What we need now more than ever before are thinkers, disrupters, analysts, inventors, and new ways of doing things. The mechanical processes are pretty much operating at peak performance after more than 45 years of using improved technologies.

If you’ve been reading my blogs, you know I tend to focus on things that are wrong. I’m not a PR guy; I’m the plumber of the bank tech world. I fix broken “pipes.” So this prelude is just to convince you that I’m not pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes.

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