BS&T Blogosphere
If You Wanna Know About Banking and Technology, Visit Your Doctor
** I really believe in expert services, so rather than a visit to a Web site that offers do-it-yourself healthcare, I make the huge effort of going to my doctor -- twice a year, whether I need to or not. The first question in the usual examination process was, "So how is the banking business?"
Caught a bit off guard, my quick answer was, "Banks are making more money and handling risks well, but the tech companies aren't so well off."
I hardly finished when the good doctor rattled off a most eloquent statement as to why he believed in the leveling-off scenario in new tech offerings: "Everything is electronic now, and with the Internet, we as customers get our banking done easily, quickly, conveniently and accurately. Bankers found the cure. Healthcare should be that successful."
Stock Market Performance Reaches a High That Most Bank Tech Stocks Would Love
October 30, 2006
** I looked at the performance since April 2006 of 17 public companies whose revenue is almost entirely from bank technology. Only three companies had stock price increases. Open Solutions scored a 31 percent gain during the period thanks to a private investor takeover. Fiserv made a gain of 19 percent doing just what comes naturally. And TSYS got back on a recovery track with a 19 percent gain.
The rest of the list of public companies is not breaking stock market records either because the companies have leveled off; they are a small part of a public company and thus not a factor in the price of the stock; or some are marking time while looking for acquirers. ... This is a pretty dull time for bank technology -- except for M&A activity.
Art Gillis has been telling it like it is in banking technology for 36 years. To read more of his observations, visit BS&T blog.
--Federal Reserve Gov. Susan Schmidt Bies, at the American Bankers Association Annual Convention, Oct. 17, Phoenix.
--Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Annette L. Nazareth, before the ALI-ABA Sarbanes-Oxley Institute, Oct. 12, Washington, D.C.
Online Mortgage Magazine
FNC has launched Collateral Vision, an online magazine for the mortgage industry that features stories, opinion pieces and research focused on real estate collateral. Collateral Vision's creators said they hope to encourage lively debate with an article- comments section and rating system. Additionally, there is a page for readers to submit story ideas or articles.
Endpoint Security Center
Financial institutions' systems are vulnerable to malware and to malicious activity by disgruntled employees. Further, reactive security processes won't control data leakage or the threats to banks that result from it. To secure their systems, organizations need policy-based control over endpoint applications and devices. To learn more about these topics and how you can protect your organization, visit the Endpoint Security Briefing Center.
New IT Evaluation Metrics
Read InformationWeek Editor-at-Large Eric Chabrow's take on the new metrics in IT -- How many customer interactions failed last month? How many hours were wasted on low-value computer maintenance rather than tech-driven innovation? To what extent did software developers contribute to the bottom line?
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