Headlines:
Scottrade Installing PassMark Software Unisys Profit Warning Sparks Downgrade Metavante Buys Outsourcer Brasfield
Scottrade Installing PassMark Software
The St. Louis online brokerage Scottrade Inc. has agreed to use the newest version of authentication software from PassMark Security Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.
Scottrade plans to start using the software in January and will be the first customer to use the new version, PassMark said Tuesday.
In an interview Tuesday, Rodger Riney, Scottrade's founder, president, and chief executive, said the new version's authentication process goes a step beyond other authentication systems. "It's such a unique, simple way to protect our customers' identities."
The earlier version, whose customers include Bank of America Corp., validates the identities of both financial services companies and their customers to each other during the log-in process. The new version also uses a risk-based decision engine, similar to software used by credit card companies, to monitor transactions after a customer logs in. It compares transactions during a session to the user's customary pattern, to spot potentially fraudulent transactions.
Bill Harris, PassMark's founder and chairman, said the enhanced security is important for the brokerage industry, because the companies "tend to be dealing with a larger amount of money than a typical banking institution."
Both versions of the software install an identifying code on a consumer's computer; during subsequent sessions the system will look for that code to verify that people are accessing their accounts from known computers. If the user logs in from a different computer, the system will ask questions to verify their identity. Also, both versions ask users to select an image, which is displayed when they log in again.
PassMark's first customer was Stanford Federal Credit Union, and 10 other banks, brokerages, and large credit unions are implementing or testing the software, the vendor says.
Mr. Harris said the next version of the system, which will be available next month, would include a voice-authentication feature that uses technology from Vocent Solutions Inc. of Mountain View, which PassMark acquired in August.
Unisys Profit Warning Sparks Downgrade
Fitch Inc. downgraded Unisys Corp.'s debt after the Blue Bell, Pa., banking technology provider warned it will post a third-quarter loss of 16 to 18 cents a share, instead of a profit, because of lower-than-expected revenue.
Unisys said Monday that it expects to report a revenue drop of 4% to 5% from a year earlier, to a range of $1.37 billion to $1.39 billion. Revenue was lower than expected in both its services and technology businesses.
Fitch responded to the warning by downgrading Unisys' debt that day to BB, from BB-plus, affecting approximately $1.4 billion of Unisys debt.
When it reported its second-quarter earnings in July, Unisys said it anticipated a third quarter operating profit of 4 to 6 cents a share and revenue growth in the "mid-single-digits."
The rating agency cited Unisys' deteriorating financial performance and continued weakness in the technology market.
The forecast cut was the third this year for Unisys' 2005 revenue growth and earnings, Fitch said.
Joseph W. McGrath, Unisys' president and chief executive, said in a press release, "We are currently analyzing the reasons for the shortfall." He plans to offer more details about the shortfall, and the company's response, during its upcoming earnings conference call.
Unisys is scheduled to issue its third-quarter earnings report Tuesday.
Metavante Buys Outsourcer Brasfield
Metavante Corp., the technology subsidiary of the Milwaukee banking company Marshall & Ilsley Corp., has acquired the Birmingham, Ala., core processing outsourcer Brasfield Corp.
The deal, announced in August, closed last week, Metavante said. Brasfield will keep its brand name and will operate as a subsidiary of Metavante.
Brasfield provides core processing to 46 community banks, mostly in the Southeast, through a hosted version of Kirchman Corp.'s Bankway software. Metavante acquired Kirchman, of Orlando, in May of last year. At least eight other outsourcers also provide hosted versions of Bankway.
