Site Map - Banking/Financial Services

11/13/2007 - With identity theft costing Americans billions of dollars each year, financial institutions are under pressure to make account information more secure. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has issued a study of ID theft and account hijacking in which it outlines technological tools and other recommendations designed to mitigate this threat. @ Putting an End to Account-Hijacking Identity Theft .

11/13/2007 - The financial services industry in Chicago is collaborating with city, state, and federal officials to create a regional group that will work together on disaster recovery plans. The initiative, which others can use as a model, is described in a new report by the U.S. Department of Treasury: Improving Business Continuity in the Financial Services Sector: A Model for Starting Regional Coalitions. @ Visit SM Online for the full report.

11/08/2007 - The art of phishing has become not only widespread but increasingly sophisticated as well. These scams can bring unwary surfers to identical versions of their online banks that at a casual glance are impossible to tell from the real thing. @ Find out how to get the Netcraft Toolbar at SM Online.

11/08/2007 - The art of phishing has become not only widespread but increasingly sophisticated as well. These scams can bring unwary surfers to identical versions of their online banks that at a casual glance are impossible to tell from the real thing. @ Find out how to get the Netcraft Toolbar at SM Online.

11/06/2007 - Sarbanes-Oxley may help the public reclaim its confidence in Corporate America, but it’s costing corporations plenty, according to a survey of chief financial officers (CFOs) by Financial Executives International (FEI), a professional organization of CFOs and other senior financial executives. Costs for complying were estimated at $4.36 million, 39 percent more than the $3.14 million they expected to pay (based on a July 2004 estimate from a previous FEI survey).

11/06/2007 - Sarbanes-Oxley may help the public reclaim its confidence in Corporate America, but it’s costing corporations plenty, according to a survey of chief financial officers (CFOs) by Financial Executives International (FEI), a professional organization of CFOs and other senior financial executives. Costs for complying were estimated at $4.36 million, 39 percent more than the $3.14 million they expected to pay (based on a July 2004 estimate from a previous FEI survey). The 217 public companies surveyed estimated internal costs of $1.34 million, $1.72 million for external costs and $1.34 million for auditor fees. The majority of respondents felt that giving investors more confidence in a company’s financial reports was a benefit of Sarbanes-Oxley, but 94 percent thought the costs of compliance would exceed the benefits, a position echoed in a survey conducted by Broadgate Consultants in which 83 percent of the 105 institutional analysts and portfolio managers surveyed felt that Sarbanes-Oxley should be modified to make compliance more cost effective. Similar concerns were voiced at a recent roundtable before the SEC. @ SM Online has highlights from FEI’s Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 Implementation Survey as well as testimony from the SEC roundtab

11/02/2007 - Like banks, U.S. money-services businesses are required to implement anti-money-laundering measures, such as reporting suspicious activity and currency transactions. Money-services businesses range from hotels that exchange currency, to check-cashing storefronts, to Fortune 500 companies. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), along with various other federal agencies, recently issued two sets of guidance. The first reminds money-services businesses of their obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act and notifies them of the type of information they may be expected to produce to banks with which they have a relationship. The second sets forth minimum steps that banks should take when their customers are money-services businesses.

11/02/2007 - How can you achieve ROI from security applications

11/02/2007 - A bank invests in e-mail encryption.

11/02/2007 - In 2004, financial institutions were the industry most likely to buy terrorism insurance.

11/01/2007 - Thirty-five percent of the world’s top 100 global financial institutions were victimized by attacks from within their organizations (versus 26 percent from external sources), up from 14 percent the previous year, according to the 2005 Global Security Survey conducted by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

10/31/2007 - Phishing and pharming scams typically rely on Web-site spoofing, where fraudulent but realistic-looking versions of real sites trick customers into providing sensitive information to con artists. Because financial institution Web sites are typically the ones that get spoofed, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has released a paper to help banks respond to spoofing incidents. @ The OCC bulletin is available through SM Online.

10/31/2007 - In the wake of multiple high-profile thefts of consumer information, the protection of personal data held in business databases has become a hot topic. Some legislators have introduced bills that would hold companies liable for inadequately guarding sensitive data as one way to encourage greater security.