Headlines:
NetDeposit, Fiserv Team Up on Routing Volume Climbs at 3 Online Trading Firms Harland Buys Fair Isaac's Processing
NetDeposit, Fiserv Team Up on Routing
NetDeposit Inc. of Salt Lake City and Fiserv Inc. of Brookfield, Wis., are cooperating to route their client institutions' check payments electronically.
NetDeposit Decision Gateway software is now available to Firserv's 6,000 account processing clients and the 1,700 depository institutions that outsource check processing to it. Fiserv, the nation's largest third-party check processor, will also make its 50 printing centers available to the 200 institutions that use NetDeposit's owner, Zions Bancorp., for clearing. The arrangement is to be announced today.
The software decides whether to route a given check for clearing as an image replacement document - which Fiserv would print - or through an image exchange network or as an automated clearing house payment.
The decision is "driven by parameters built into our system," said Royce Brown, NetDeposit's president and chief operating officer.
Under the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, which took effect last month, all depositories must be able to accept paper image-replacement documents for clearing.
When a Fiserv customer is ready to settle with electronic images, Fiserv will change a setting in the software, Mr. Brown said.
Since Check 21 took effect "we're moving out of pilot into full-blown production," he said.
Volume Climbs at 3 Online Trading Firms
Three leading online trading firms said volume climbed in October after an industrywide lull in the summer.
Early-November volume is also up, one said. Its chief executive credited the end of uncertainty about the presidential election.
Average daily revenue trades rose 25.8% from September to October at E-Trade Financial Corp. of New York, to 123,112; 20.8% at Ameritrade Holding Corp. of Omaha, to 145,000; and 16% at Charles Schwab Corp. of San Francisco, to 153,700.
E-Trade reported its figures Monday; the others did so last week.
R. Jarrett Lilien, E-Trade's president and chief operating officer, said October was "the best month since April" for online trades. E-Trade averaged 114,711 trades a day in May, 27.7% fewer than in April.
Mr. Lilien said that though E-Trade has offered incentives such as free trades as a reward to its credit card users, "it certainly doesn't hurt that the markets are looking a bit more interesting."
Ameritrade's CEO, Joe Moglia, said in a press release that November trading activity "has been nearly 20% higher than October."
"We believe the resolution of election uncertainty has helped volumes and will continue to have a positive impact on trading," he said.
Harland Buys Fair Isaac's Processing
Harland Financial Solutions Inc. has acquired the core processing business of Fair Isaac Corp. of San Rafael, Calif., including its Phoenix System software.
The acquisition was announced Monday.
Harland Financial, a subsidiary of the Atlanta check printer John H. Harland Co., did not say how much it paid. However, it said the acquisition would round out its product line. Phoenix is for community banks and thrifts that are too large for Harland's Sparak core system.
The acquisition also includes Fair Isaac's Phoenix Internet Banking System and its TradeWind international trade finance management system.
Harland Financial said the purchase would slightly reduce its 2004 profit, but the company reaffirmed its expectation for earnings of $1.86 to $1.91 per share.
