Headlines:
Schwab to Reimburse Clients for Fraud Another Stock Buyback Plan for Fiserv eFunds, Revenue Down, Cites ATM Sale Metavante Expands Health-Care Division
Schwab to Reimburse Clients for Fraud
Charles Schwab Corp. has introduced a customer reimbursement policy similar to one E-Trade Financial Corp. implemented last month.
Schwab said Wednesday that it would reimburse customers for losses from unauthorized activity in their brokerage accounts.
Unlike bank accounts, brokerage accounts are not protected by the Federal Reserve Board's Regulation E, and brokerages are not legally obligated to reimburse customers for any fraud losses.
Both Schwab and E-Trade said they have already reimbursed customers for some losses.
"Our new security guarantee turns that historic practice into a public promise," Charles R. Schwab, the San Francisco brokerage's founder and chief executive, said in a press release Wednesday.
Both companies' policies have exceptions.
Schwab advises its customers to protect their home computers with things like updated anti-virus software, but it does not say whether this is a requirement for reimbursement. But according to its policy, Schwab may hold customers "responsible if we determine that you shared this [password] information, or unauthorized activity was caused by your fraudulent conduct or gross negligence."
E-Trade also suggests that customers take steps to protect their systems, and it says it will hold customers responsible for losses if they have shared their passwords.
E-Trade offers passcode-generating tokens to customers who request them, but it says customers do not need a token to ask for compensation.
Another Stock Buyback Plan for Fiserv
Fiserv Inc. is planning to repurchase up to 10 million shares, or 5.6% of its common stock.
The Brookfield, Wis., financial technology vendor, which announced the plan Thursday, expects to conclude another 10 million-share buyback program this month.
Last month Fiserv said that as of yearend it was still authorized to buy back 3.1 million shares under that program, which was announced in July..
Gregory Smith, a research analyst for Merrill Lynch & Co., wrote in a report published Wednesday that he estimates the new buyback would take 12 to 22 months to complete and would cost $430 million.
Fiserv shares rose 2.13% by Thursday afternoon, to $42.65.
eFunds, Revenue Down, Cites ATM Sale
The Scottsdale, Ariz., electronic payment software and services provider eFunds Corp. attributed its 9% drop in full-year revenue, to $501.7 million, to the sale of its automated teller machine network.
Net income rose 37%, to $55.7 million, eFunds said Wednesday.
In November 2004 it sold its 17,000-machine network to TRM Corp. for $150 million in cash.
Fourth-quarter revenue rose 6% from a year earlier, to $138 million, and net income climbed 12%, to $12.7 million.
Paul Walsh, eFunds' chairman and chief executive, said in a press release that it offset the loss of its low-margin ATM network with the July purchase of WildCard Systems Inc., a Sunrise, Fla., company that makes and supports stored-value cards.
"As a result, we have improved the earnings growth profile of our company," Mr. Walsh said.
Metavante Expands Health-Care Division
Metavante Corp. has expanded its health-care payments solutions division and hired John M. Reynolds to be the division's president.
The technology subsidiary of the Milwaukee banking company Marshall & Ilsley Corp. said Wednesday that it had incorporated AdminiSource Corp. of Carrollton, Tex., into the division. Metavante acquired AdminiSource last month but did not say how much it paid.
AdminiSource is the third health-care services company that Metavante has purchased since 2003. It bought Med-i-Bank Inc. of Waltham, Mass., in July for $145 million. In 2003, Metavante bought Printing for Systems Inc., a Madison, Conn., maker of cards and documents for health insurance companies.
Mr. Reynolds has 20 years of banking experience. Most recently he was a senior vice president for health benefits services at Wells Fargo Institutional Trust Service.
