Headlines:
Open Solutions' $140M War Chest NCR Remote Capture for Cullen/Frost Kanbay Reports More Profit and Customers
Open Solutions' $140M War Chest
The banking technology provider Open Solutions Inc. of Glastonbury, Conn., has closed a $140 million debt offering and plans to use the money to buy companies.
The senior subordinated convertible notes will mature in 2035 with a value of $270 million, according to a registration filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Though the placement closed in February, the company had 90 days to file the paperwork.
David Henderson, the company's vice president for corporate development, said in an interview Monday that the money appeared on its balance sheet in the first quarter earnings report, which was released last week. "We intend to use the money to further our acquisition strategy," he said.
In March the company said it had agreed to buy part of CGI Group Inc., which provides core banking technology. In October, Open Solutions bought Datawest Solutions Inc., a Canadian company that provides outsourced phone and Internet banking in addition to Internet customer relationship management software and Internet loan origination.
NCR Remote Capture for Cullen/Frost
Frost Bank of San Antonio, a unit of Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc., is using technology from NCR Corp. of Dayton, Ohio, to offer a remote capture deposit system to corporate customers.
Several Frost customers are already using NCR's ImageMark software to convert checks into digital images and transmit them to the bank for deposit, NCR said Monday. Frost can also accept the images and forward them to a Federal Reserve branch for clearing.
Gary McKnight, Frost's senior executive vice president for operations and processing, said in an NCR press release that his bank's commercial customers "see the sweeping changes in payment processing as a substantial benefit."
Remote-capture systems have rapidly become popular. Customers can use them to avoid carrying checks to a branch for deposit; banks can use them to woo corporate clients where they lack branches.
Banks also say they like remote capture because turning checks into image files early in the processing cycle will bring electronic settlement through image exchange networks nearer. But the traffic on these networks is still light, and most banks using remote capture print the files as image replacement documents, which are processed like paper checks.
Kanbay Reports More Profit and Customers
Kanbay International Inc., a Rosemont, Ill., banking technology outsourcer with most of its operations in India, reported strong first-quarter results and said it is adding clients.
The company, which went public last July, said Thursday that net income rose 54% from a year earlier, to $8.2 million, as revenue rose 44%, to $53.5 million.
Kanbay gets most of its income from two customers, HSBC Holdings PLC and Morgan Stanley, but it has been trying to diversify its customer base. It now gets 38% of its revenue from other companies, up from 30% a year ago.
"Our total pipeline of revenue opportunities is strong and growing and gives us confidence for the rest of the year," said chairman and chief executive Raymond Spencer in a press release.
In March the company bought Accurum Inc., a technology services provider that focuses on the capital markets industry. Accurum brings an attractive client base and capabilities in the capital markets vertical" and is an opportunity for cross-selling its services, Mr. Spencer said.
Kanbay picked up 13 new clients in the first quarter, including seven from the Accurum deal.
