Headlines:
VectorSGI Snags 13 Big Image Customers Kubra Buys Stake In Ailing Processor Sterling of Illinois Signs Up with Bisys Upgrade for NetBank on Mortgage Outlook
VectorSGI Snags 13 Big Image Customers
VectorSGI, of Addison, Tex., is installing its check imaging software at 13 banks that it says may constitute 40% of the potential market for image exchange
The company, a unit of Metavante Corp., the technology subsidiary of the Milwaukee banking company Marshall & Ilsley Corp., said Wednesday that the banks will use Vector:ImageEX for sending and receiving check-image files for clearing.
They are Bank of America Corp. of Charlotte; the ABN Amro Inc. unit of ABN Amro Holding NV of Amsterdam; the Fifth Third Bank unit of Fifth Third Bancorp of Cincinnati; and the First-Citizens Bank and Trust Co. unit of First Citizens BancShares Inc. of Raleigh, N.C.
Also, First Horizon National Corp. of Memphis; the Frost National Bank unit of Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. of San Antonio; Harris Bank of Chicago, a Bank of Montreal unit; National City Corp. of Cleveland; Navy Federal Credit Union of Vienna, Va.; and Popular Inc. of San Juan, Puerto Rico;
Also, the U.S. Bank unit of U.S. Bancorp of Minneapolis; the UMB Bank unit of UMB Financial Corp. of Kansas City; and the Union Bank of California unit of UnionBanCal Corp. of San Francisco, which is mostly owned by Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc.
"We have been very heartened by the uptake," said Sydney Smith Hicks, the chief executive and president of VectorSGI, in an interview Tuesday. "About 50% of what has been decided has gone our way."
She said the software enables institutions to assemble image files for transmission over any of several existing networks and to process incoming image files and post the electronic check presentment data to customer accounts while archiving the images.
Kubra Buys Stake In Ailing Processor
The San Antonio payment processor Payment Data Systems Inc. said its customer Kubra Data Transfer Ltd. of Mississauga, Canada had exercised warrants to take a tiny equity stake in it.
Kubra, which sells document management and electronic billing software, spent $60,000 for 175,000 common shares, about 0.7% of the total outstanding, said Michael Long, Payment Data's chief executive.
The Canadian company, which uses Payment Data for processing credit and debit transactions, signed an incentive warrant agreement in September that provided an initial grant of 250,000 warrants. The agreement also provides for future grants if Kubra delivers a predetermined number of transactions.
"The more traffic that Kubra delivers to us, the greater number of warrants they can earn," Mr. Long said Thursday.
He said Kubra's purchase was a vote of confidence. "Basically what they are demonstrating is that they believe in the upside of Payment Data Systems," he said.
His company has been struggling. In January it said that Mr. Long and three other employees - about half the staff - had agreed to accept common stock in lieu of about six months of unpaid wages. The third-quarter operating loss of $367,113 was 29% smaller than that of a year earlier, though, and revenue was up 135%, to $69,201.
Sterling of Illinois Signs Up with Bisys
Sterling Federal Bank of Sterling, Ill., has selected Bisys Group Inc. of New York as its core processing provider.
Sterling has eight branches across northern Illinois and assets of $401 million.
The bank also plans to use several other Bisys' products for online banking, data warehousing, automated teller machine and debit card processing, and managing safe deposit boxes, the vendor said.
Rita Smith, a Sterling vice president, said Tuesday in Bisys' press release that the Bisys platform's "online real-time capability as well as its integration of ancillary products made it unique."
Upgrade for NetBank on Mortgage Outlook
Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Inc. has upgraded NetBank Inc.'s stock from "underperform" to "market perform," citing signs of an impending pickup in mortgage sales.
But it also lowered its forecast of 2005 earnings at the Alpharetta, Ga., branchless banking company from 35 cents per share to 28 cents.
The Arlington, Va., investment bank said Tuesday that NetBank's mortgage pipeline increased 9% in January, foreshadowing a rebound at the end of the winter months. Its mortgage production declined 25%, and mortgage sales into the secondary market dropped 47%.
However, NetBank is coming under increasing pricing pressure on conforming and nonconforming mortgages, Friedman, Billings said. The company is particularly vulnerable to such pressure, it said, because much of its mortgage sales volume comes through the competitive wholesale and correspondent channels.
