Electronic Data Systems Corp. has signed on three new thrifts for the core processing software, known as Miser, it recently acquired from Computer Associates International Inc.
The Plano, Tex.-based computer systems and services company finalized in recent months deals with Green Point Savings Bank of Brooklyn, N.Y., Chase Federal Bank of Miami, and the Savings Bank of the Finger Lakes in Geneva, N.Y.
In commenting on the deals, EDS reiterated its intention to eventually move the 40 thrifts still processing on its Integrated Financial System core processing product to Miser. Miser was originally developed by the Newtrend Group.
"Ultimately, the plan is to move all thrift customers to Miser," said Craig Dees, a spokesman for EDS."One of the reasons Newtrend was able to capture 200 customers speaks to the acceptance of (the software) in the market."
EDS added Miser to its product line when it purchased most of what had originally been Newtrend from Computer Associates, which had acquired all of Newtrend prior to the EDS deal.
The acquisition of the software is part of a concerted effort by the computer services giant to appeal to smaller financial institutions. In the purchase from Computer Associates, EDS also gained control of a core processing software package for credit unions, known as Cube.
Before acquiring Miser and assuming the contracts for the roughly 200 institutions that already used that product, EDS had 80 thrift customers, about half of which do core processing on the Integrated Financial System.
EDS officials expect the Miser software to expand the breadth of the company's potential customer base.
The product can run in-house or through a service bureau and is has appealed historically to institutions with assets in the $250 million to $5 billion range. EDS' thrift customers thus far have tended to be larger institutions.
"We think Miser was written to accommodate all ranges and sizes of thrift," said Ted Shaw, a vice president for EDS' financial services unit. "Ours appeals mainly to the high end."
One of EDS' most recent clients, the $7 billion asset Green Point Savings Bank, fits into the high end category.
The new software will replace Green Point's 15-year-old, in-house system, according to the bank's chief information officer, Tom Cardinale.
Under a six-year "hybrid" agreement, EDS will run Green Point's processing facility as a service bureau for a two-year period ending in November 1996. After that, the bank will take over the bank's data center and EDS will simply support the software.
The deal, including equipment, is valued at $14 million, Mr. Cardinale said.
Green Point will convert all of its 700,000 accounts to the new system and software during a weekend in September, he added. Mr. Cardinale also said the flexibility of the new Unisys-based platform and the Miser software would aid the bank in expanding its processing capability and adjusting its product line as Green Point enters "acquisition mode."
Both Mr. Cardinale and Don Baker, the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Chase Federal Savings Bank, pointed to previous legal wranglings between the former owners of Miser as a concern that had kept them from signing a contract earlier.
Computer Associates and the Newtrend Group, partners in the Newtrend LP banking software company, had been embroiled in a bitter legal battle over control of the software for almost two years before a buyout of Newtrend by Computer Associates ended the tug-of-war. EDS' control now lends an air of stability to the popular core processing software.
Although Chase Federal had been in talks since June 1993 to sign a deal for the Miser software, the legal troubles "put a cloud over the selection process," Mr. Baker said.
