The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released a bulletin to remind national banks and their technology service providers that application security is an important component of their information security program. All applications, whether internally developed, vendor-acquired, or contracted for, should be subject to appropriate security risk assessment and mitigation processes.

Almost half of banking executives (49 percent) are concerned that recent credit issues will have an adverse impact on their bank, according to Grant Thornton LLP’s 15th Bank Executive Survey. Reflecting this concern, less than half (46 percent) of bankers participating in the survey have confidence in the appraisals supporting loans underwritten by their bank and just 22 percent expressed confidence in the appraisals supporting loans the bank purchases.

SOA – service oriented architecture – is both an overused buzzword and a real solution to banking problems. Celent demystifies SOA, explaining what it is and how it helps banks, and how banks can deploy SOA in a new report, “Great Expectations: Can SOA Deliver?”

Level Four Software, a supplier of open standards-based ATM software, announced the results of a survey of delegates at the ATMIA European ATMs show, revealing that nearly a quarter of European banks will be addressing ATM downtime as their top priority in the next 12-18 months. The result highlights the pressure banks face with the ongoing maintenance of their ATMs. Level Four urges banks to “get their house in order” through better management and control of their network with intelligent ATM monitoring.