Bank technology

The regional banks are moving past old-school collection calls, instead using emails, texts and on-screen messages to urge delinquent customers to repay debt. Modern communications are said to be more efficient and in keeping with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau debt-collection rules set to take effect Nov. 30.

The data aggregator assembled a group of technology companies that has developed a set of security standards for startups. It is open for comment ahead of an anticipated implementation in the second half of next year.

The credit bureau's $638 million deal to buy the ID verification firm is its second M&A agreement in a little over a month to broaden its line of products and services that help customers combat fraudsters and identity thieves.

Silvio Tavares, the former chief executive of the Digital Commerce Alliance, will lead the credit-bureau analytics firm.

Housing will still be a priority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but newly confirmed Director Rohit Chopra is also expected to investigate discrimination in the Paycheck Protection Program and bias in AI-powered lending algorithms.

Chief Information Officer Scott Case and his staff are building patent-pending technology to transfer data from legacy BB&T and SunTrust systems to new digital channels while preserving the best of each company's platforms elsewhere.

At a House Financial Services Committee hearing, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle questioned the widespread practice of screen scraping and agreed that consumers should have a more direct say over how their financial data is handled.

Wire and other payments fraud affected a record number of businesses last year, and the FBI is warning in particular about real estate scams.

Other aggregators came to the bank's defense, while one CEO suggested Plaid's very public protest was unfounded.

Paycheck information gleaned from bank accounts is emerging as an alternative to verifying a mortgage applicant's income and employment with a 4506-T tax transcript request to the IRS.

Black Knight has acquired HeavyWater, a developer of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology for the mortgage industry, and plans to incorporate the startup's borrower data verification and other automation capabilities into its existing product suite.

Promontory MortgagePath fills management roles for bank relations, technology and outsourced services opportunities.

Leader Bank says it can land property managers as commercial clients by helping them handle tenant deposits — and possibly create opportunities to boost CRE lending.

The bank says its partnership with Lender Price will help streamline and simplify its home loan process.

Applications can now be made on the bank's app or website, but closings will still be in person. With this move, BofA joins Quicken Loans, Lenda, SoFi and others offering a mostly digital mortgage. The trend is sure to continue.

Some speculate that the banks who do business with credit reporting agencies may be looking for alternatives after mounting concerns about their ability to keep information private. But breaking up is hard to do.

Some fear that the removal of such data from individual credit reports could lead lenders to believe a consumer is a better bet than they really are.

Lenda, launched in 2014, currently makes mortgages start to finish in two weeks. But it's aiming to make it a process that can be finished on a borrower's lunch break.

To attract new customers, banks are getting rid of the paper-based payments process between builders and subcontractors.

The bank will spend an additional $1.4 billion on technology in 2018 to gain share and boost efficiency, executives said Tuesday. But they were peppered with questions about whether the big investment will yield a big financial return down the road.