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June 8, 2009 - June 12, 2009
General News
* Fiserv Releases Mobile Money FastTrack
* Heritage FCU Chooses Symitar
* R.C. Olmstead Adds New Clients
* Syphr Partners with Datatrac to Enhance RateMatch Services
* CU*Answers Announces 360-Day Mortgage Enhancements
Fiserv, a leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, has introduced Mobile Money FastTrack, a straightforward mobile banking solution that can be rapidly deployed by credit unions. Mobile Money FastTrack can provide “triple play” technology that enables members to access their accounts using any of the three primary mobile access modes: mobile browser, SMS (text messaging) or a downloaded application. The solution combines banking and payments capabilities, and includes functions such as balance inquiries, transaction history, account transfers, bill payments and one and two-way account alerts. Informational services such as an ATM and branch locator are also included.
Heritage Federal Credit Union recently completed their search for a new core data processing system and announced that the Symitar Episys platform will be the credit union’s core data processing system. Symitar, a division of Jack Henry & Associates, is a leading provider of integrated computer systems for credit unions of all sizes and currently serves more than 700 credit unions nationwide.
R.C. Olmstead, a data processing company based in Dublin, OH, announced that 27 clients have re-committed to their core processing system in the past 12 months. Clients who have renewed their contracts with R.C. Olmstead since summer 2008 include: Monsanto Nitro Employees FCU; Firestone FCU; Parish FCU; Wesley Medical CU; Jeep Country FCU; Community One; First Miami University FCU; Long Reach Employees FCU; Trailview FCU; Mountain River CU; MNCPPC FCU; The Catholic CU; Sun Center CU; Tiffin St. Joseph FCU; Clarian FCU; Towpath CU; Med/Pro FCU; Stark FCU; Dowagiac Area FCU; Youngstown Ohio Employees CU; Abbey CU; Medical Care Employees FCU; Struthers FCU; Youngstown City Schools CU; Akron Municipal Employees CU; Focus FCU; and Zane Trace FCU.
Syphr, a New York-based marketing CUSO, has partnered with the nation’s largest interest rate database, Datatrac, to enhance the features of its online RateMatch lead generation tool. With Datatrac being the nation's largest and most comprehensive database of competitive rate information, the companies say that the partnership will help complement Syphr’s RateMatch rate and payment analytics.
CU*Answers, known for its flagship core processing system, CU*BASE announced significant changes to the way CU*BASE handles member payments on mortgage loans with the 360-day interest calculation type. According to the CUSO, CU*BASE can now handle posting a regular payment and a separate principal-only payment at the same time, with two independent transactions and member-friendly descriptions, without the use of special teller Procedure Codes.
Hardware News
Quantum announced a new backup appliance for remote offices that combines data deduplication, replication and system-wide monitoring software for centralizing backup control. The Quantum DXi2500-D uses a Dell server with 1.8TB of hard drive backup capacity and can be monitored with their Vision 3.0 software. The appliance acts as network-attached storage (NAS) and has a 300GB/hour ingest rate for backups. Once a full backup of the remote site is completed, the appliance backup only changes at the block level, so that even if a file is updated, only the changes are replicated back to a main data center or disaster recovery site. The DXi2500-D also supports Symantec's OST (open storage) API, which allows NetBackup software to track copies of data, both at remote sites and in data centers and disaster recovery sites. Pricing for the DXi2500-D starts at $12,500 and includes deduplication, replication and OST support.
Hewlett-Packard has released a new line of ProLiant G6 servers that they claim deliver twice the performance of the previous generation of ProLiant servers - while using half the energy. The new HP ProLiant machines come equipped with a new feature that the company calls "sea of sensors": 32 smart sensors that automatically monitor the heat created by the server and adjust fans accordingly. Employing sensors to adjust cooling at the datacenter level isn't new, however bringing it to the server level is a new concept.
There are many secure external hard drives, but one in particular is different in their approach. We will cover this secure and affordable drive in the July issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe today.
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Software Updates
A company called zoneLINK offers a product called SystemUp Eraser which can be used to erase files, directories, partitions or whole hard drives simply and quickly. Simply choose what you want to delete, choose one of the five different deletion methods (or customize your own) and then execute. SystemUp Eraser also includes signed deletion logs to provide both proof of file or media deletion and documentation for internal processes.
NetWrix announced NetWrix Services Monitor, a freeware tool to monitor critical Windows services and optionally restart them after failure. The tool monitors all automatic startup services on multiple servers at a time and sends email alerts when one or more services stops unexpectedly. The optional automatic restart feature ensures that all monitored services are up and running without downtime.
In a related story, Cfengine says that their Cfengine Nova package is designed to manage the entire server lifecycle. The software can: perform pattern matching; verify that key processes are or are not running; monitor disk usages and system performance; warn about full file systems before a problem occurs; and conduct change management processes for files.
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ATMs/Kiosks
Cash machines around the world are hosting malware that can harvest a person's card details for use in fraud, a situation that could worsen as the malware becomes more sophisticated, according to Trustwave's SpiderLabs research group. The malware records the magnetic stripe information on the back of a card as well as the PIN. That data can be printed out on the ATM's receipt roll when a special master card is inserted into the ATM that launches a user interface. It can also be recorded on the magnetic stripe of that master control card. To install the malware, a person would need access to the inside of the ATM or a port in which software could be uploaded. That means insiders could be involved, or cybercriminals have picked a lock on an ATM in order to install the software.
An online precious metals trading company is planning to install 500 gold-dispensing ATMs in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. TG-Gold-Super-Mark.de plans to roll out the machines at airports, railway stations and shopping malls in a bid to encourage ordinary people to invest in physical assets. The ATMs will dispense tin boxes containing one gram, five gram and 10 gram pieces of gold. The company insists that the kiosks are more than a gimmick and that everyone should have up to 15% of their liquid assets in gold.
While most members report they are satisfied with their credit unions, better rates and expanded access to ATMs top their list of suggested improvements, says a recently released survey report by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA). About 45% of members surveyed would like to see their credit union pay higher savings rates than they do now, according to CUNA's 2009-2010 National Member Survey. Lower loan rates (27%) and more ATM locations (22%) rounded out the top suggestions from members. Higher savings rates are the leading request from members age 45 and older. More ATMs topped the list for 25- to 44-year-old members, and more convenient credit union locations ranked highest with 18- to 24-year-olds.
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Biometric Digest Highlights - WWW.BIODIGEST.COM
Virginia recently became the fourth state to tell motorists to not smile while having their driver's license photo taken. That's because a smile allegedly causes issues with the facial recognition software that some states are using to search and compare records. Colorado, however, was one of the first states to start using the technology that measures the distance between eyes, the width of the mouth and other biometric cues, and they do not frown upon smiles. A spokesperson for the Colorado DMV said that "we let people smile, and we were one of the first states to begin using facial recognition in 2002, and smiles haven't been a problem."
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Wireless World
At research firm Celent's recent Innovation and Insight Day, mobile banking was a hot topic. The consensus was that credit unions must get into mobile banking as a way to keep pace with the competition and as a way of provide true value to members. Analysts agreed that credit unions must address three primary areas: ease of use, cost of use and security. Although many people compare the adoption and development of mobile banking to online banking, the biggest difference noted at the conference was the pace - mobile banking is moving much faster than online banking ever did.
Many leaders in the remittance industry believe that mobile payments will make a significant difference to how remittances are handled within the next 5 years. This is evidenced by a recent survey at the International Payments Summit that revealed that the respondents felt that payments made or received by a mobile phone will account for at least 20% of all remittance transfers in 2014.
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Security Section
Researchers from Microsoft say stolen goods offered for sale in IRC channels are tough to monetize, and industry estimates of underground profits are "exaggerated." In their report, titled "Nobody Sells Gold for the Price of Silver: Dishonesty, Uncertainty and the Underground Economy," the Microsoft researchers say it's a smaller population of more sophisticated and organized gangs of cybercriminals who come out ahead. Earlier this year, they used an economic analysis method to show that phishing is a low-paid, low-skills enterprise where the average phisher makes hundreds, rather than thousands, of dollars a year. The researchers' work is their own, they say, and doesn't speak for Microsoft.
The famous password-cracking tool L0phtCrack is back, with the L0phtCrack 6 version just released. Weak passwords are still a major problem today, even 12 years after the former L0pht Heavy Industries, "the hacker think tank," developed it. The tool was later sold commercially by @stake, the security consulting firm that purchased L0pht and then was later acquired by Symantec. Among the new features in L0phtCrack 6 is 64-bit support, as well as support for Windows Vista. The tool provides password assessment and recovery, dictionary and brute-force cracking, password-quality scoring, remediation, remote scanning, and executive reporting.
Credit unions face a wide range of threats online from cybercriminals: malware, bots, phishing/vishing scams and more. But one area that should not be overlooked is simple monitoring of the Internet for false or derogatory information about the credit union that can damage its reputation. Fortunately there are some free methods for monitoring the Net and we will cover them in the July issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.
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Leaders Roundtable
Online & Mobile Banking:
Saving Costs & Increasing Marketshare
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Technology and Marketing
CRM OnTarget, a provider of partner hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM, has increased the value of its offering as it has added Microsoft Exchange Server and Outlook 2007 for new Dynamics CRM users without an additional charge. The firm says that combining Exchange with Dynamics CRM provides their clients with a seamless integration of Dynamics CRM with the Microsoft Office Suite, along with easy to use sales and service dashboards.
UW Credit Union has entered into an agreement with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to have student IDs also act as debit cards. The Madison-based credit union will have the exclusive right to provide the service for up to 10 years, while the university is expected to be rewarded with as much as $6.4 million in revenue.
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Online Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design
According to the 2009 Debit Issuer Study, commissioned by payments network PULSE (Houston), debit card transactions are still showing signs of growth. In addition, use of PIN debit has increased while incidents of fraud have decreased. Issuers surveyed experienced debit transaction growth of 8 percent in the second half of 2008. This consisted of 15 percent growth in PIN debit transactions and 4 percent growth in signature debit. More than a quarter of all debit transactions (27 percent) were for less than $10, which PULSE attributes to an increasing preference by consumers to not use cash. Debit card fraud losses at the point of use declined in all categories. PIN point-of-sale losses, as measured in dollars per card per year, fell to $0.15 from $0.19. ATM losses declined to $0.56 per card per year from $0.61, and signature debit loss rates fell to $1.81 from $1.92.
Credit Union 24, the country’s largest credit union-owned ATM and point-of-sale (POS) network, has entered into a pilot agreement with Acculynk to provide the company’s Internet PIN debit service, PaySecure, to its member credit unions. PaySecure is the first software-only service for PIN debit payments on the Internet. Consumers enter their PIN on PaySecure’s graphical PIN-pad at the merchant checkout, and only need their existing debit card and PIN to use PaySecure. There are no hardware devices, passwords, enrollment or redirection to another website for payment.
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Internet Access
Expand Networks won the Best of Interop's award for performance optimization. Expand also used the show to announce its Mobile Accelerator Client (MACC) that extends optimization to individual computers using what Expand calls HIVE Technology. MACC software resides on laptops and desktops and optimizes traffic to Expand appliances located at data centers. Without the client, Expand optimization works only between Expand appliances. The software automatically seeks other MACC clients in the same location to set up a shared cache of data drawn from the data center so it can be used by all the machines without each one having to fetch it over the WAN.
AT&T launched a bundled service for small businesses that combines wireless service, Internet and WiFi service and traditional landline voice service for under $100 per month. The carrier said the services will be available to small businesses that have one to four lines in a single location, and that the services will come in a single bill. The plan includes 450 wireless minutes per month per wireless device, support for up to 11 email accounts, access to AT&T WiFi hotspots and unlimited local and long distance wireline service.
In a similar story, Cablevision Systems is offering business customers across its service area the option to select up to 24 lines of Optimum Voice phone service which enables their Optimum Business package to serve businesses with up to 100 employees.” Each Optimum Voice line features low flat-rate pricing, unlimited local and long-distance calling within the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada. Additionally, there are 14 business calling features at no additional charge, such as Enhanced Voice Mail, Find Me, Rollover Hunting and Three-Way Calling. The Optimum Business offering includes Optimum Online and Optimum Voice, each for $29.95 per month for one year. For customers with four to 24 lines, each additional Optimum Voice line is available for $29.95 per line. Optimum Online Boost with Static IP is available for an additional $24.95 per month, and Optimum Online Ultra is available for $99.95 per month.
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Call Centers
Every driver’s exam includes two parts: a written test and a performance test. Whether your credit union uses both to evaluate potential call center agents is up to you, but either way call center experts recommend using your most experienced agents to help in the new hire evaluation process. Your subject matter experts (SMEs) can help identify the most critical tasks to include in any type of assessment. If the SMEs embrace the concept of performance assessments, then they can adeptly pinpoint the most important tasks. Your SMEs can also help set passing scores and determine if test takers should get more than one try to pass the exam.
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Conferences
Catch Tom and Bill Rogers, Associate Editor of Credit Union tech-talk at the following conferences in 2008:
October 4-7, Las Vegas - Firefighters' National Credit Union Summit
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