Technology in Brief: Deals and deployments by financial institutions, and other newsHeadlines:
Open Solutions Deal with CGI
Open Solutions Inc. of Glastonbury, Conn., a provider of core and Internet banking software, announced Thursday that it had agreed to buy part of CGI Group Inc., which provides similar products and services.
Changing hands for $24 million in cash will be CGI's US Services to Credit Unions business unit and a software line called CyberSuite. The unit, which will remain in Southfield, Mich., provides core processing to about 180 U.S. credit unions.
The CGI operation, which has annualized revenue of $16 million, will be absorbed into Open Solutions' core systems group. CyberSuite includes software for teller, Internet banking, and automated teller machine applications.
In its fourth-quarter earnings announcement, Open Solutions credited its income and revenue gains in part to demand from banks and credit unions that want integrated software packages. Other bank technology vendors, such as S1 Corp. of Atlanta, have said they have also profited from this trend.
In October, Open Solutions bought Datawest Solutions Inc., a Canadian outsourcer of phone and Web banking that also sells software for online customer relationship management and loan origination.
Fidelity Image Software in Use
Fidelity Information Services of Jacksonville, Fla., announced Thursday that three small banks are now using its Branch Capture Xpress, its check imaging software.
The three - Bank of Stanley, Anson Bank and Trust, and Cabarrus Bank and Trust - are all units of Uwharrie Capital Corp. of Albemarle, N.C. They have eight branches in all.
The software enables the banks to convert paper checks into image files in their back offices and transmit them to a Fidelity data center for processing. The files are then printed out as image replacement documents and sent to a Federal Reserve branch.
Fidelity said the banks expect to work with it to eventually settle transactions through an image exchange network. The vendor is the technology division of Fidelity National Financial Inc.
