Headlines:
Berkshire Bank Picks Open Solutions Jack Henry Buys RPM Intelligence Bisys Offering Hyland Software to Banks VectorSGI Promotes Its Marketing Chief
Berkshire Bank Picks Open Solutions
The core processing software vendor Open Solutions Inc. said Thursday that Berkshire Bank of Pittsfield, Mass., will use its flagship product, Complete Banking Solution, for customer accounting.
Open Solutions, of Glastonbury, Conn., said the bank, a unit of the $1.3 billion-asset Berkshire Hills Bankcorp Inc., will also use several related software products, for functions including financial planning, accounts payable, general ledger, and customer relationship management.
Last June, Open Solutions bought the company whose core processing software Berkshire Bank was using - EastPoint Technologies LLC of Bedford, N.H. Open Solutions is still supporting that software, its press release said, but it quoted the bank's senior vice president of operations, Gayle Fawcett, as saying Complete Banking Solution "offered a clear migration path."
Berkshire Bank, which has 91,000 customer accounts, announced a deal in December to buy the $898 million-asset Woronoco Savings Bank of Westfield, Mass. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.
Jack Henry Buys RPM Intelligence
Jack Henry & Associates Inc. of Monett, Mo., has its fourth acquisition in three months - RPM Intelligence LLC, a Minneapolis maker of customer and product profitability software.
RPM Intelligence does business under the name Stratika. Jack Henry provides core processing software and outsourcing services. Most of the two companies' customers are small banks and credit unions.
Jack Henry will integrate RPM Intelligence's software (which is called RPM) into the core processing systems its customers use to tally deposit and loan accounts. It will help them "systematically improve their performance and support their business strategies," said Jack F. Prim, Jack Henry's chief executive, in a press release.
Jack Henry would not say what it paid for RPM Intelligence but said it expects the deal to add slightly to earnings in its fiscal 2005, which will end in June.
In December Jack Henry acquired two operations with imaging products: TWS Systems Inc. of Clearwater, Fla., which sells check processing products; and the SERsynergy division of SER Solutions Inc. of Dulles, Va., which sells image archiving software. In November it bought Optinfo Inc. of Charlotte, which sells reconciliation and exception processing software.
Bisys Offering Hyland Software to Banks
The financial outsourcing provider Bisys Group Inc. is offering document management technology from Hyland Software Inc. as an option.
Hyland, of Cleveland, offers a product suite called OnBase for capturing, storing, and managing documents, including application files, reports, forms, and statements. It said Tuesday that Bisys, of New York, is offering OnBase capabilities to help users of its core processing, loan origination, and customer-relationship systems share information electronically.
"Many Bisys clients are embracing this solution," said William W. Neville, the president of Bisys Information Services, in Hyland's press release. The $889-million asset Peoples Community Bancorp of West Chester, Ohio, has implemented OnBase, he said, and the $150-million asset Virginia Savings Bank of Front Royal has purchased the technology.
VectorSGI Promotes Its Marketing Chief
VectorSGI has promoted Larry Best to vice president of marketing.
Mr. Best joined the Addison, Tex., check imaging technology vendor in 1997 as its marketing manager. He will continue to oversee all aspects of selling its software and its consulting services.
(Metavante Corp., a Milwaukee unit of Marshall & Ilsley Corp., bought VectorSGI last year.)
Before joining VectorSGI, Mr. Best had developed banking technology products for Computer Associates International Inc.
He said in a press release Tuesday that he hopes to increase sales this year as banks continue to use imaging systems to link branches to back-office sites and to corporate customers.
"The passing of Check 21 enables VectorSGI to expand its check image technologies beyond traditional bank branches to expanded geographical territories and corporate businesses," he said.
