Headlines:
Free Bill Pay with Huntington Accounts IBM Adds Branch Data Flow Software Metavante Closes Purchase of VectorSGI Ilog Certified for IBM zSeries Servers
Free Bill Pay with Huntington Accounts
Huntington National Bank of Columbus, Ohio, has joined the crowd providing online bill payment for free.
The bank, whose holding company is the $32 billion-asset Huntington Bancshares Inc., said Nov. 23 that it had extended free bill pay to all customers with personal checking accounts. It previously charged $4.95 per month.
A March report from the Council on Financial Competition said 31% of Huntington's checking households were active users of the service, versus an industry average of 27%.
Many banks have been eating the fees they must pay to bill payment processors such as CheckFree Corp. of Atlanta because according to many studies the service makes customers more loyal, likelier to buy more banking products, and therefore more profitable.
Bank of America Corp. was one of the first major banking companies to shift to free bill payment, in 2002. Wachovia Corp. eliminated its fee last month, and Sovereign Bancorp Inc. did so earlier this month.
Huntington said it plans future enhancements to the bill payment service that will allow customers to place memos on online payments, check the status of payments, and enter invoice information for business accounts.
IBM Adds Branch Data Flow Software
International Business Machines Corp. has two new software products meant to facilitate the flow of information within bank branches, and the Atlanta banking software vendor S1 Corp. is using one of them.
Client Administrator for IBM Workplace Client allows branch managers to give employees different levels of access to branch computers.
Access can also be assigned to remote users - technicians, for example.
S1 has developed several interrelated modules that can communicate information about customers across multiple channels, IBM said.
Imad Mouline, S1's chief technology officer, said in IBM's press release that the software allows banks "to easily integrate multiple applications with multiple vendors in a single, open environment," reducing cost of ownership.
The other new software product is Workplace for Branch Banking. It is designed to track performance indicators and sales tools to communicate information about a customer among separate channels and encourage cross-selling.
Metavante Closes Purchase of VectorSGI
Metavante Corp., which is owned by Marshall & Ilsley Corp. of Milwaukee, has completed its $100 million purchase of VectorSGI, a banking technology company based in Addison, Tex.
Metavante said VectorSGI complements Advanced Financial Solutions Inc. of Oklahoma City, which it bought earlier in the year. Both companies sell check-imaging technology.
The pairing will help Metavante create a "comprehensive suite of applications to address Check 21 needs," said Frank R. Martire, its president and chief executive, in a Nov. 22 press release.
The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, which went into effect Oct. 28, is expected to promote the use of check image exchange systems.
This year Metavante also bought NYCE Corp. of Montvale, N.J. and Kirchman Corp. of Orlando.
Ilog Certified for IBM zSeries Servers
Ilog Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., said its business rules software was the first to be certified for use on International Business Machines Corp.'s eServer zSeries line of server computers.
The software developer said Nov. 23 that the certification will help it target financial services customers.
Ilog deployed a version of the software, which can automatically tailor a product package for individual customers, in 2000 for First Union Home Equity Bank, whose holding company is now named Wachovia Corp.
The First Union service, called Loan Arranger, customized the terms of online lending agreements.
Rules-based customization is common in other industries. It is used, for example, to assemble vacation packages and cell phone plans.
