• NEWS
  • Topics
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • More
• FEATURES
  • Podcasts
  • Banking in Healthcare
  • Anti-Money Laundering
  • Retail Delivery
  • More
• OPINIONS
  • Art Gillis
  • Editor
  • Perspectives
  • Executive Q&A
  • BS&T Blog
• EVENTS
  • Upcoming Live Events
  • Upcoming Web Events
  • Recent Events
  • On-Demand Web Events
• TOOLS
  • Buyer's Guides
  • Digital Library
  • Career Center
  • Education
  • Internet Banking Systems
  • Online Mortgages
• CAREERS
• RESOURCE CENTERS
  • IT Management Strategies
  • Payments
  • Outsourcing
  • Retail Strategies
  • CIO Strategy Center
  • Mobile Banking

Main / Guest Column Weblog

By Mike Fenton, Parascript, LLC

Since the establishment of the first ATM networks in the early 1970s, ATMs have become an essential component of consumer banking technology that continues to evolve. Customers have come to rely on them for convenience and ease in accessing their financial institution and making transactions without the need for a human interface or bank teller. This type of service answers the demands of our fast-paced society and may seem unconditionally attractive. However, security is a big concern for both banks and consumers and is one of the reasons limiting ATM usage.

By Alan Tenenbaum, Cohen Pontani Lieberman & Pavane, LLP

Over the past few years, we've seen an enormous amount of patent litigation against companies in the financial industry. The patents at issue in these litigations primarily concern business methods, covering such things as financial email alerts, systems for trading treasuries and other securities, Check21 technology, pre-paid gift cards, and online credit applications, to name a few. The trend is continuing, with recent infringement suits brought by Edge Specialists LLC for patents that concern systems for automated options trading, and by Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. for patents that concern computerized methods for administering annuity products.

By Randy Rodriguez, Bluewolf

One word summarizes today’s banking climate: volatile. Bank CEOs are focused on capital markets, fall-out from the subprime debacle, and the pace of merger and acquisition. FDIC’s last Quarterly Report for 2007 points out the realities facing today’s banking leaders. With banking quarterly income at the lowest levels in 16 years, eroding margins, earnings volatility, non-current loans rising and one in four banks losing money, IT managers will continue to face enormous challenges in 2008.

By Anand Swaminathan and Andrew Kappy, Accenture

Medium-sized banks find themselves in an increasingly desperate situation. They are losing significant market share to their larger competitors without the scale or funds to weather the weak economy, diversify their business or acquire others as a competitive strategy.

By John Cronin and Rachael Schwartz, ipCapital Group

Recent patent-related stories in the news suggest to the inexpert public a disturbing trend that some lucky inventor comes up with a simple concept, receives a valuable patent from a broken patent office and then easily earns hundreds of millions of dollars in licensing fees from industry leaders who cannot afford not to use the new technology themselves. From these stories, the public may start to recognize patents as a threat to industry, as they may force companies hoping to compete to license technologies at exorbitant costs. However, once one investigates the patents more deeply, it is clear that they do not threaten to shut down industries or disrupt the U.S. patent system.

By Wayne Meikle, Financial Services Director, IONA Technologies

People tend to equate ISO20022/UNIFI directly with XML. The benefits are a global set of common standards based on more open and cost-effective XML technology platforms—so life gets easier, doesn't it?

By Clark Abrahams, Marketing Director, SAS

Is a new credit assessment the intervention needed for the subprime crisis? As I follow the unfolding mortgage crisis, one thing is abundantly clear—there is significant room for improvement in current credit assessment approaches. Credit scoring has not done an adequate job of assessing risk in the subprime mortgage market. That fact is beyond dispute. Simple re-calibration of the existing models will not fix the problem of the blind spot in today's underwriting practices.

By Joseph Salesky, ClairMail Inc.

In theory, alerts can be an effective customer service tool for fraud prevention, account management, bill payment and other banking functions. When executed correctly, not only can alerts increase customer service and satisfaction, they can also significantly cut costs for banks, introduce new revenue opportunities and accelerate adoption of the mobile banking channel.

By J. Brian King, Benchmark Consulting International

One of the greatest challenges faced by financial institutions is sifting through and processing data in order to extract meaningful information on which to base their decisions, according to a whitepaper by BenchMark Consulting International (Atlanta). Understanding and properly leveraging internal data as well as appropriate external data can allow lenders to confirm where they are performing well and identify possible areas for improvement.

By Mark Greisiger, NetDiligence, and Jon Neiditz, Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP

Imagine this nightmare:

Criminals from across the globe, armed with the most sophisticated weaponry, are converging on your bank. Inside the bank, the guards are fast asleep. Panicked tellers sound alarms. Nothing happens. (No one knew they didn't work; they were never tested.) The bad guys know precisely where the vault is and it's wide open. Bad guy after bad guy marches out with your customers' wealth. The crime's swiftness is mind-boggling. What should have taken hours was over in seconds.

But the worst is yet to come: customers, outraged that you didn't have better safeguards, are closing their accounts and suing you for negligence. Before you jolt awake, one last image flashes through your mind: the words "CEASE AND DESIST" scrawled in blood-red paint across your bank's front door and a letter emblazoned with "CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT" in your mailbox.

By Jerry Driscoll, Exstream Software

Despite the large number of mergers and acquisitions within the industry over recent years, banking still remains highly competitive. Walk down any street in an average American city, and you're likely to pass three or four bank branches marketed to attract more customers and encourage them to do more business by opening more and different types of accounts. As always, however, the most effective way to do this is to build personal relationships with customers, to develop trust and inspire loyalty.

By Dr. Tatiana Vazioulina, Parascript, LLC

The dramatic rise of financial fraud has become a scary trend in today's world. According to recent studies, approximately 9.2 million Americans suffered from identity theft crimes in 2004, costing consumers $5 billion, and banks and corporations $48 billion. The growth of these crimes has resulted in a renewed interest in advanced security means. Institutions are increasingly demanding more reliable, less costly authentication and authorization for everyday activities, such as performing financial transactions, boarding an aircraft, entering a secure physical location or crossing international borders. Biometrics is an emerging technology that is quickly garnering wide attention for its promises to alleviate security breaches and offer solutions to key challenges, such as financial theft and fraud, faced by real-world enterprises.

By Richard Muirhead, CEO and Founder, Tideway Systems

Going green is a red hot issue these days, particularly in the data center which is a big consumer of energy. Rising energy costs, combined with the increasing number of servers, cooling equipment and related infrastructure being deployed, are creating new pressures on corporate bottom lines in financial services organizations and in many other industry sectors.