Headlines:
Fidelity National Inc. Does Stock Buyback Huntington Reduces Paper and Expense Accenture: Make Pitch But Aim Well Peppercoin Lands Ingenico of France
Fidelity National Inc. Does Stock Buyback
The title insurer and financial services outsourcing provider Fidelity National Financial Inc. has repurchased 2.25 million shares of its common stock, 1.3% of the total outstanding, from Alltel Corp., its largest shareholder, for $71 million.
The price was $31.50 per share, 95 cents less than Tuesday's closing price, Fidelity said Wednesday.
Fidelity bought Alltel's core processing business in April 2003 and built its technology subsidiary, Fidelity Information Services Inc., around it. It paid $775 million in cash and 11.2 million shares of its own common stock, which were subject to a yearlong lockup agreement.
Alltel announced Wednesday that on Tuesday it had sold the rest of its Fidelity stock to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for $350 million.
Fidelity is based in Jacksonville, Fla. Alltel is based in Little Rock.
Huntington Reduces Paper and Expense
Huntington Bancshares Inc. says it is saving $50,000 a month by sending statements to customers electronically.
Ellen M. Johnson, Huntington's vice president of electronic statements, said the Columbus, Ohio, company began advertising the electronic bank statements online and in statement mailings in September.
Within 90 days, Huntington had enrolled 50,000 accounts - 9% of its total number of accounts - for electronic statement delivery. Each paper statement costs $1 to send; Ms. Johnson would not say what a single e-statement costs to send or how many Huntington is sending now.
Customers were "very happy with our service," she said.
Huntington says 42% of its deposit customers bank online, and that it plans to offer credit statements and tax forms online next.
Huntington is using software from Metavante Corp., the vendor announced Wednesday. Metavante is a unit of Marshall & Ilsley Corp. of Milwaukee.
The banking company chose Metavante because the software can produce the e-statements as standard Web pages or using Adobe Systems Inc.'s portable document format. Huntington customers can have the "advantages of both sides of the technology," Ms. Johnson said.
Web pages can link to check images but are hard to save. PDF files are easier to download and save but not as conducive to Web page links.
Huntington had been working with Metavante for stored-value payroll cards and checking account statements.
Accenture: Make Pitch But Aim Well
Accenture Ltd. says banks are missing out on potential sales because they are not pushing their products as much as they could.
"Customers have said they don't mind being reached out to," said John Durocher, a partner in the consulting firm's banking practice.
An Accenture study published Wednesday says that 67% of customers surveyed do not object to tellers offering them additional products or services. Half said that customer service representatives and tellers are already doing so, and just 6% said their bank tries too hard to sell them new product. Three percent said their bank pitches them inappropriate products.
Mr. Durocher said banks should not interpret these results as a green light to inundate customers; they need to offer products people need.
Technology can help to identify these needs, he said, but it is just as important to have branch salespeople who can "pick up on what customers are buying and doing.
Peppercoin Lands Ingenico of France
A French transaction processor will use Peppercoin Inc.'s micropayment aggregation software to add debit and credit card acceptance to card readers used in such closed environments as college campuses and cruise ships.
The readers now accept only prepaid cards.
The French company is Ingenico, of Puteaux Cedex. Its Debitek subsidiary will use the software in its MoneyClip card system for closed environments.
Peppercoin, of Waltham, Mass., announced the deal Monday. Its software combines several small-value purchases into a single credit card transaction, reducing the fees merchants must pay to card issuers. Many merchants say those fees make it unprofitable for them to accept credit cards for transactions of about $5 or less.
Larry Hauser, Debitek's general manager, said in Peppercoin's press release that the deal "creates new opportunities in key markets previously dominated by cash transactions," such as vending machines, laundry, and fast food.
