Headlines:
Profits, Revenue Increase at Jack Henry
Jack Henry & Associates Inc. said strong growth in its credit union segment produced higher sales and profits for its fiscal first quarter, which ended Sept. 30.
The Monett, Mo., provider of core processing software and services and related products for banks and credit unions said late Tuesday that its net income grew 20% from a year earlier, to $16.7 million, while revenue grew 14%, to $124.1 million. Earnings per share of 18 cents met analysts' expectations.
Jack F. Prim, Jack Henry's chief executive officer, said in a press release that the revenue total was the second-highest since the company's founding in 1976, trailing only the $126 million reported for the preceding quarter. Jack Henry said revenue in its credit union systems and services segment increased 40%, to $24.3 million. Revenue for bank systems and services increased 9%, to $99.8 million.
Mr. Prim also cited Jack Henry's diversification into related areas. "The acquisitions we have announced since the beginning of the fiscal year will not only add to our suite of products and services but also continue to differentiate our core systems from that of our competitors," he said.
Since July 1, Jack Henry has bought three companies: Banc Insurance Services Inc., a Holyoke, Mass., provider of outsourced insurance agency services; Select Payment Processing Inc., an Irving, Tex., provider of automated clearing house processing services; and Verinex Technologies Inc., a Lake Forest, Calif., maker of fingerprint recognition software.
Zions to Expand Check-Clearing Business
Zions Bancorp. hopes to increase its correspondent banking business, domestically and internationally, by promoting image-based check-clearing services that use software from its NetDeposit Inc.
"The system is available now," said Clark Hinckley, the director of investor relations at the $31.2 billion-asset Salt Lake City company. It has used the software internally for two years but cannot employ it more broadly for clearing with outside partners until the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act takes effect Oct. 28.
Zions has correspondent relationships with more than 200 client banks, but Mr. Hinckley said executives believe the market opportunity is much bigger, because electronic check clearing eliminates geography as a limiting factor for the correspondent network.
In the last month Zions has announced three agreements with companies that will offer the Zions' Electronic Cash Letter Clearing service to their client banks:
- The Salt Lake City service bureau BMA Management Support Corp. will offer image clearing to its item processing clients, mostly community banks in the western United States.
- Profit Technologies Corp., a Davidson, N.C., consulting firm that offers advice to banks on boosting revenue and cutting costs, will recommend Zions' technology.
- TFP (formerly Thomson Financial Publishing) will co-market to its bank customers Zions products and services, including one - branded outside of the United States as eTranscheque - that will let international customers transmit check images to Zions Bank for deposit. (TFP is a division of Thomson Media, the company that owns American Banker.)
Mr. Hinckley said he anticipates more such announcements in the near future.
