BoA trials online-only account

Bank of America is to debut a new online-only account that offers free banking to customers who dispense with paper statements and branch-based transactions, reports Finextra.

Set to be introduced next month, the new account will charge a $8.95 monthly fee to customers who want access to paper statements and tellers. It will replace the bank's current CollegeEdge account which does not carry a fee.

The account follows the introduction of new rules capping overdraft fees, prompting speculation that the days of free bank accounts may be coming to an end. Bank of America has been trialling the new online-only service in Georgia since November. It will be introduced nationwide from next month.

Spending by companies on technology hardware is bouncing back sharply from the global financial crisis with record results from Intel providing the latest evidence of the strength of the recovery, states Financial Times.

Businesses are finally replacing ageing data-centre servers, desktop PCs and notebooks, after extending the length of their 'refresh' cycles to conserve cash during the recession.

“We've felt for some time that this phenomenon had to happen,” said Paul Otellini, Intel chief executive, on new orders for desktop and laptop PCs, helped by Microsoft's introduction of its Windows 7 operating system. Intel saw a 170% increase in sales in the second quarter of its Xeon microprocessors for data centre servers compared with the same period last year.

UBS Investment Bank has poached technology banker Mark Zanoli from JP Morgan Chase & Co to head its Americas technology banking team, as it seeks to beef up its technology, media and telecommunications practice, writes The Wall Street Journal.

Zanoli, who is based in San Francisco, will start in October and oversee coverage of the bank's technology clients in his new role. He will report to New York-based Aryeh Bourkoff, UBS's joint global head of technology, media and telecommunications banking.

The UBS AG had been scouting for a replacement for Brian Webber, the bank's former global head of technology banking who left earlier this year.