TECHNOLOGY CORNER

Banks Push Direct Deposit. Financial institutions in the Northeast end this week an education campaign to increase voluntary use of direct deposit. "Direct Deposit Week" comes on the heels of reports that the federal government is mandating direct deposit use for all new federal employees and government beneficiaries, including Social Security recipients. Direct Deposit Week is sponsored by The New York Clearing House Association in conjunction with financial institutions, including Citibank N.A., The Chase Manhattan Bank, Fleet Bank N.A., Republic National Bank, The Bank of New York, PNC Bank Corp. and Empire Corporate Federal Credit Union. Direct deposit allows employees to have paychecks automatically deposited into their accounts via electronic funds transfer at any financial institution. The campaign is designed to boost voluntary use of direct deposit by 5 percent annually over the next five years. (New York Clearing House Association, 212/612-9200.) Western, Fiserv Sign Pact. Irvine, Calif.-based Western Financial Bank (Western) signed a long-term contract with Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv Inc. for data processing services. Western, a $3.2-billion asset, federally chartered and insured savings bank, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Westcorp. The Fiserv Custom Outsourcing Solution will facilitate the bank's introduction of commercial banking services and its expansion into a full-service financial institution. Global Access Manager, the Fiserv Windows-based navigation software, will be used to access all core and ancillary systems. FAST, the Fiserv Account Sales and Teller system, will automate Western's branches. Fiserv's line will replace most in-house applications and will interface with the bank's existing general ledger, optical storage and data warehousing applications. Fiserv provides financial data processing systems and related information management services and products to more than 5,000 banks, credit unions, mortgage firms and savings institutions worldwide. (Fiserv, 414/879-5000.) Sybase, RSA Form Alliance. Emeryville, Calif.-based Sybase Inc. is forming a licensing agreement with San Francisco-based RSA Data Security Inc. RSA technology will be used in a wide range of Sybase products. The pact will enable highly-secured business transactions over the Internet by enhancing the security features in Sybase databases, middleware and tools. These products will be designed to preserve the confidentiality and integrity of business data processed across the Internet, allowing for authentication of users, servers and applets. The agreement addresses technology that secures business transactions over the Internet, including authentication, non-repudiation and confidentiality. By using digital certificates as an authentication method, systems can be designed to identify users, applications and servers. Digital signatures ensure non-repudiation of transactions and encryption ensures data confidentiality. RSA is a subsidiary of Security Dynamics Technologies Inc.. (Mary Shank- Rockman, Sybase, 510/922-4165.) Citibank Expands to Romania. New York-based Citibank {CCI} has opened a subsidiary in Romania that serves corporate clients. Citibank Romania S.A. initially will focus on cash management, treasury and money-market businesses. In 1995, Citibank assisted Romania's return to the international capital markets through two syndicated Euroloans for the National Bank. (Richard Howe, Citibank, 212/559-9425.)