Headlines:
Harland's Outlook, Share Price Improve Irwin of Indiana Scouting with MapInfo 50% Image Volume Increase for SVPCO MarkMonitor Phish Fighter for Midsizers
Harland's Outlook, Share Price Improve
Shares of John H. Harland Co. surged Wednesday after the check printer and banking technology vendor raised its first-quarter earnings outlook.
By midday, the stock was up 12.51%, to $44.17.
Harland said after the close of trading Tuesday that it expected first-quarter earnings per share of 75 cents to 78 cents, well above its earlier guidance of 60 cents to 65 cents. The Atlanta company also raised its full-year estimate, previously $2.73 to $2.78, to $2.90 to $2.95.
Harland said the quarter delivered better-than-expected results in each of its three business segments.
Check printing and related operations generated about 62% of Harland's revenue last year. Its software and services business, which offers core processing, mortgage, and teller and branch software and services, accounted for 26%. Scantron, which serves the educational testing market, contributed 12% of revenue.
The company will issue its first-quarter results May 3.
Irwin of Indiana Scouting with MapInfo
Irwin Financial Corp. of Columbus, Ind., is using automated location analysis software to identify expansion markets and sites for new branches.
The $6.7 billion-asset banking company is scouting for second branch locations in Phoenix and Las Vegas, said Brad Kime, the president of both Irwin Union Bank and Trust Co. and the thrift Irwin Union Bank FSB, whose charter allows it to branch nationwide.
Irwin targets privately owned businesses with revenue of up to $50 million, and goes after the personal banking business of those companies' owners and employees. It has opened 13 branches in nine states outside Indiana, from Sacramento to Louisville, since 1999.
In support of is own database of 50 markets Irwin is using demographic and geographic data from MapInfo Corp. of Troy, N.Y., "to help us prioritize those markets in terms of attractiveness," Mr. Kime said.
When it decides to go into a new market (it typically enters two a year), Irwin uses MapInfo data to triangulate the locations of employees' homes, concentrations of potential customers, and competitors' branches.
"A couple of our early facility decisions were less than optimal," Mr. Kimie said. "Since we were investing dollars in brick-and-mortar, we wanted to do it as effectively as possible."
50% Image Volume Increase for SVPCO
Volume on The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC's SVPCO Image Payments Network increased again last month.
The New York company said last week that banks sent 29.2 million check images across the network in March, 50.3% more than in February. The average daily volume was 1.2 million items, worth $4.6 billion, and the busiest day was March 27, with 2.2 million items.
Volume on the network has grown sharply in the past year. It was 62.5 million for the first quarter, against 52 million for all of 2005.
Twelve banking companies and the Federal Reserve banks are using the system to send and receive digital check images instead of delivering the original paper checks.
"The fact that the number of daily items in the first quarter of 2006 significantly exceeded the total for all of 2005 indicates the strength with which financial institutions are embracing the Image Payment Network," said George Thomas, a Clearing House executive vice president, in a press release.
MarkMonitor Phish Fighter for Midsizers
MarkMonitor Inc. has introduced an anti-phishing service aimed at midsize banks and credit unions.
Chuck Drake, the San Francisco company's senior vice president of fraud solutions, said that the Phishing Readiness and Response service, which it announced last week , looks for any newly registered Internet domain names containing bank customers' names.
Since consumers are suspicious of Web sites without domain names, phishers have been registering domain names that are close to the brand they are impersonating, Mr. Drake said. For example, criminals often add a simple suffix to a bank's brand, such as "-security.com," to make a fake site's address seem convincing. Once MarkMonitor spots a fake Web site, it contacts Internet service providers to try and shut it down.
He said the number of phishing attacks targeting small to midsize banks and credit unions has increased 753% in the past six months.
The service starts at $5,000 a year. Mr. Drake said similar services for larger banks tend to be much more expensive.
