Headlines:
Fed Amends Rules to Implement Check 21 Corillian Says It Didn't Cause Stock Flurry Watchfire Buys a Calif. Firewall Vendor Silicon Valley Picks Politzer ACH Software
Fed Amends Rules to Implement Check 21
The Federal Reserve Board has released final amendments to Regulation CC to implement the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, which will take effect Oct. 28.
A 112-page document, including the amendments and the Fed's commentary, was released Monday and has been posted at www.federalreserve.gov.
The rules include a model disclosure and model notices to help banks explain to customers the new role of substitute checks in the check-clearing process. They also set out endorsement and identification requirements for substitute checks.
Corillian Says It Didn't Cause Stock Flurry
Corillian Corp. says its management was not aware of any changes to its business to explain recent trading activity in its stock.
The Portland, Ore., online banking software vendor instead cited a distribution of shares by one of its original venture investors.
Paul Wilde, Corillian's chief financial officer, said in an interview Tuesday that Battery Ventures of Wellesley, Mass., distributed its remaining 2.2 million shares to its limited partners Friday. "Many of them chose to sell."
Battery Ventures distributed 7 million Corillian shares - the bulk of its holdings - in four tranches last fall, Mr. Wilde said.
Corillian said it has received a number of inquires about the stock's trading activity and price. Four times this month, most recently Monday, the daily volume in its stock has topped 1.1 million shares, more than triple the daily average of 352,000 over the last three months. On Monday the stock fell 9%, to $5.01 a share, and hit an intraday low of $4.55.
"With this final distribution, Corillian common stock will have greater public float, and the overhang from a significant private investor is removed," Mr. Wilde said in a press release Monday.
Watchfire Buys a Calif. Firewall Vendor
Watchfire Corp. of Waltham, Mass., has acquired Sanctum Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif., developer of Web security testing and firewall software.
The purchase was announced Monday. Watchfire did not say how much it paid. Both companies are privately held.
Watchfire said it would combine Sanctum's online security offerings with its own WebXM Web site management software, which monitors and analyzes corporate Internet performance issues, including privacy, accessibility, and user experience.
Watchfire's customers include SunTrust Banks Inc. and Sovereign Bancorp Inc. Sanctum's customers include Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., and Wells Fargo & Co.
Silicon Valley Picks Politzer ACH Software
Though Silicon Valley Bank of Santa Clara, Calif., has been developing its own online cash management software to replace a vendor's, it stopped short of writing code for originating automated clearing house transactions.
"That was more than we wanted to take on," said Linda Coven, its senior product manager for online banking.
Instead it has licensed Web Cash Manager software from Politzer & Haney Inc. of Newton, Mass.
Politzer & Haney's software "really stood out," said Ms. Coven, who is a managing director at the bank. "If I have to make a tax payment, I pull up an application that says, 'taxes.' All of those fields are defined in business terms that make sense to me."
The bank, a unit of the $3.7 billion-asset Silicon Valley Bancshares, has been developing the software for a year to replace software from Magnet Communications Inc., a unit of Digital Insight Corp. of Calabasas, Calif.
"We are a unique bank, and we serve a unique clientele," Ms. Coven said. "We wanted more control" and more ability to enhance software.
Its 9,500 corporate clients are mostly information technology and bioscience companies and premium wineries. Seventy percent of them bank online. The bank will start moving them to the new cash management system in August.
Though Silicon Valley has historically focused on early-stage companies, many of them backed by venture capital, it is increasingly doing business with more-established concerns, Ms. Coven said. "We've got to continue to upgrade to meet their emerging needs."
The business software is based on homegrown private banking software the bank introduced 18 months ago for owners and executives of its corporate clients.
