Huntington forms unit to market fee services.

Following the example of some money-center banks, Huntington Bancshares Inc. has formed a subsidiary to market cash management and fee-based transaction processing services to corporations and other banks.

The unit, called Huntington Technology Co., will be headed by Richard C. Ercole. Mr. Ercole was president of Security Pacific Treasury Management Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Sequor Group, a business that Bank-America Corp. acquired after merging with Security Pacific Corp. earlier this year.

A number of big banks, including Bankers Trust Corp. and Chemical Banking Corp., have organized their processing businesses into separate subsidiaries to better focus on fee opportunities.

Among Mr. Ercole's responsibilities will be the marketing of Chexs, a nationwide check clearing house established by Huntington and two other partners.

Mr. Ercole reports to Rick Sellers, president of Huntington Service. The company will continue to provide automation services to the bank.

The unit will be based in Columbus and will employ about 50 people, Mr. Sellers said.

In addition to marketing Chexs, the unit will be responsible for marketing services still under Development that use image processing to streamline back-office operations.

Huntington was one of the first banks to employ imaging in check processing, using systems from Unisys Corp.

Huntington plans to become a player in check processing for mutual funds, Mr. Sellers said.

"The whole subject of image processing opens up a whole new arena of services to corporate customers and to banks," Mr. Sellers said. "We're working closely with Unisys Corp. to develop image-based products to offer in the market."

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