In Brief (four items)

Wells Testing Digital Wallet from S.F. Firm

SAN FRANCISCO - Wells Fargo & Co. announced Monday that it is testing EasyOrder, an electronic wallet service based on technology from the San Francisco-based software company Brodia.com.Since last month, Wells said, it has distributed the service free to 750 customers. It said it expects to offer it to all of its 1.4 million on-line banking customers in early 2000.

Those customers "trust us with their on-line banking, and we aim to extend that relationship to the on-line shopping arena," said Wells executive vice president Sharon Osberg.

Like other digital wallet systems, EasyOrder eases the completion of Web site order forms and eliminates the need to re-input personal and shipping information with each subsequent purchase. Wells, a leader in on-line banking, said 77% of its customers have shopped on-line, versus 42% of the total Internet population.


Fed Says First Utah Fulfills Y2K Order

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve Board said Monday that First Utah Bancorp. and two subsidiaries have complied with a year-2000 readiness agreement imposed on them by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.The year-2000 provisions were only part of a more wide-ranging agreement the Fed made with First Utah Bancorp., First Utah Bank, and Premier Data Corp. that was designed to "restore and maintain the financial soundness" of the three institutions.

The year-2000 portion of the Feb. 5 agreement required First Utah Bank and its subsidiary, Premier Data Corp., to submit detailed plans to fix deficiencies uncovered in a Fed year-2000 readiness exam in August 1998. The Fed officially terminated that part of the agreement.

The agreement also required that the bank conduct a "review … of the duties performed by each officer and the ability of each officer to perform competently his or her assigned duties." In addition, the bank was required to submit "a written plan to establish and maintain effective board oversight, control, and supervision of the bank's senior management and the major operations and activities of the bank and Premier."

- Rob Garver


Concord to Buy N.Y. Processing Reseller

MEMPHIS - Concord EFS Inc., a prominent transaction processor and automated teller operator, said it has agreed to acquire Card Payment Systems, a privately held reseller of card processing services.Concord will issue 6.2 million shares of its common stock - roughly $180 million - to acquire the New York-based company. CPS is expected to add about $84 million to Concord's 2000 revenue. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter, subject to regulatory approval and other conditions.

CPS, formed in 1996, specializes in providing payment services to independent sales organizations, ISOs, which in turn sell those services to retailers. The company services about 23,000 merchant accounts.

Concord serves the supermarket, gasoline, trucking, and retail segments and owns the MAC automated teller machine network.


BB&T Names President Of Its S.C. Operations

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - BB&T Corp. has named Michael R. Brenan president of its South Carolina banking operations.Mr. Brenan is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Mainstreet Financial Corp. in Martinsville, Va., which BB&T bought in August. He had been managing nonbanking activities for BB&T, and is taking a job that has been vacant since 1996.

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