Something crypto-financially relevant for a change

[dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM)]

C-punks,

I have somr wire clippings that I think are more relevant to this list's
stated topic that the constant personal attacks, rants, and newbie questions.
I don't have the resources to send them out on request like JYA does. Would
anyone be interested in my sending more materials like this to this list?

BANKS BANK ON INTERNET

Internet banking is poised for a rapid growth in Europe according to a
survey of the European banking industry by Booz Allen & Hamilton. Thirty
seven banks took part in the survey, which found that 80% were planning
to upgrade existing Web sites to incorporate most traditional banking
transactions within three years. There was also signs of the emergence
of the first Internet-only banks. Wide-spread concerns about security
are more an issue of perception than of real obstacles, according to
Claus Nehmzow, a principal of BAH. The survey predicts that over the
next five years 2,000 European banking institutions will be online.

-- New Media Age, 9/12/96

IBM TEAMS WITH 15 BANKS TO FORM INTEGRION FINANCIAL NETWORK

Fifteen of North America's leading banks and IBM today announced the
formation of Integrion Financial Network. Beginning in early 1997,
Integrion will offer a broad range of interactive banking and electronic
commerce services to banks in the U.S. and Canada. Representing over
half the retail banking population in North America, over 60 million
households, Integrion will be owned and operated by IBM and the member
banks (ABN AMRO, BANC ONE, Bank of America, Barnett Bank, Comerica,
First Bank Systems, First Chicago NBD Fleet Financial Group, KeyCorp,
Mellon Bank, Michigan National Bank, NationsBank, PNC Bank, Royal Bank
of Canada and Washington Mutual). This ownership structure enables banks
to play a central role in determining the manner and format in which
these services are offered to their customers, ensuring that electronic
banking services are consistent with the bank's full range of services,
are branded by the bank, and that the bank's customers receive maximum
benefit.

-- Business Wire, 9/9/96

IN CHECK FRAUD WAR, SIMPLE IDEA MAKES ITS MARK

In Texas, Nevada, Arizona and more than a dozen other U.S. states,
bankers are fighting check fraud by equipping tellers with ink pads so
they can affix the thumbprint of customers who are not regular patrons
of the bank to the backs of checks they cash. Banks lose millions each
year to organized crime and gang members who steal checks or duplicate
payroll checks and then cash them. These crimes cost banks $815 million
in 1993 alone, more than 12 times what they lost in robberies, according
to American Bankers Association statistics. Said Dawn Duplantier of the
Texas Bankers Association, which began selling its member banks the pads
last December, "Across the board in the first six months, we have had a
70% decrease" in check fraud," she said. Bank of America, the
third-largest U.S. bank, began taking prints at 43 of its branches in
Nevada in 1994. Since then the bank has seen a 40% to 60% decline in
check fraud, said Robert Randolph, liaison officer for the bank's
investigative services division.

-- Int'l Herald Tribune, 9/7/96

DAIWA SECURITIES SELLS U.S. GOVERNMENT SECURITIES OVER INTERNET

Daiwa Securities America has expanded its trading room into cyberspace
by allowing dealers to negotiate purchases and sales of U.S. government
securities through the Internet, the worldwide computer network. The
move will let clients log on to the bank's network using any Internet
Service Provider and effectively close a deal online. Clients can access
Daiwa's network through the bank's Web site -- located at
http://www.oddlot.com -- and from t here place their buy or sell orders.
To skirt the security holes, Daiwa is using several mechanisms, ranging
from Internet firewalls to Secure ID cards, in an effort to prevent
hackers from placing rogue or phony deals into the system. "Anybody can
hook up to our Web site, but they can only get as far as our firewall.
Then they have to have a Secure ID card and an account open with Daiwa,"
a spokesman said. The "secure IDs" are in fact small electronic cards
that give the user an entrance code, which change s every 60 seconds, to
a computer network. The system is now available only for financial
institutions and brokerage houses interested in dealing with Daiwa. No
individuals are allowed to open personal accounts and trade using the
system at this point.

-- Reuter, 9/6/96

BANKS SHOULD PREPARE TO CASH IN ON E-CASH

According to a new study by Killen & Associates, banks can regain the
leadership position in payments by leveraging their payment transaction
infrastructure to support electronic cash (E-cash) services. "By 2005,
E-cash transactions will escalate to almost 30 billion," stated Michael
Killen, president of the market research firm. "Non-banks see this as a
new opportunity to carve further market share away from the banking
industry. All will compete for new revenue streams including
Internet-based micropaym ents and 'by the byte electronic commerce
purchasing services. E-cash, including secured credit/debit cards,
stored-value cards, smart cards, ATM derivatives, and other forms, is
less expensive for business than handling cash or standard credit cards
and more secure than checks," Killen continued. "Opportunities will open
for financial and other product and services players, including ATM
vendors; ATM/POS terminal manufacturers and network suppliers, including
bank-owned networks, American Express, Deluxe, ACS, and VeriFone; and
cash handling/cash management services firms."

-- Business Wire, 9/4/96

THE CHECK IS NOT IN THE MAIL

The federal government must stop using checks by Jan. 1, 1999. Can the
rest of us be far behind? A quarter-century ago digital visionaries were
predicting the checkless society, and the number of checks written in
the U.S. has tripled since then, to 61 billion in 1995. But one day, the
predictions will come true, and that day moved closer with a
little-noticed provision in April's federal budget compromise. It will
force the biggest check writer of all -- the U.S. government -- to
abandon paper checks almo st entirely by Jan. 1, 1999. After that,
virtually all 1 billion federal payments made each year, including
Social Security, must be made through electronic funds transfers. Yet,
90% of U.S. banks, and some federal agencies, aren't capable of
electronically transmitting and receiving key information that
accompanies vendor payments. The new law will force them all to get
moving.

-- Forbes, 9/9/96

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<a href="mailto:dlv@bwalk.dm.com">Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM</a>
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps