Headlines:
More Problems at Bisys Insurance Unit CyberSource Revamps, Relaunches BidPay Swift Lowering Its Prices for Messaging
More Problems at Bisys Insurance Unit
Bisys Group Inc. said it has discovered additional accounting errors in its insurance unit.
The New York company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday that the newly discovered errors relate to the accounting for certain acquisitions in its life insurance services business from fiscal 2001 through 2003. The errors would lead to a reduction of less than $3 million in after-tax stockholders' equity as of June 30, 2003, Bisys said.
In 2004, Bisys restated results going back to 2001 to correct its reporting on commissions in its life insurance business. The restatement lowered earnings and shareholders' equity by $100 million.
In April, Bisys finally filed its annual report for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2005, along with restated results for previous years. It had delayed the filing while it investigated the accounting treatment for fees received from mutual funds for which it provided outsourced processing.
In March, Bisys sold its information services unit, which provides outsourced core processing to banks, to Open Solutions Inc. of Glastonbury, Conn. The sale had been delayed twice because of issues related to the restatements.
CyberSource Revamps, Relaunches BidPay
CyberSource Corp. has relaunched the BidPay auction payment service it acquired from First Data Corp. in March.
The Mountain View, Calif., online payment processor said Wednesday that the application is available now for use on sites like eBay Inc.'s, and sellers can insert a BidPay payment button into their listings at no charge.
The new version is free to buyers, who previously had to pay a transaction fee, CyberSource said. Now sellers pay the fee.
CyberSource also said sellers can now use the service to receive international payments through cards from Visa International, MasterCard International, or American Express Co. BidPay also uses the MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa programs.
The service had more than 4 million registered users when First Data shut it down in December, CyberSource said. Executives have said they believe demand exists for alternatives to eBay Inc.'s PayPal Inc./b> payment service.
Swift Lowering Its Prices for Messaging
Swift announced price cuts that it said would save users of its messaging services more than $59 million by the end of next year.
Swift has also offered users free security hardware, which it valued at $29 million, to prepare for an upgrade to its network.
The industry-owned cooperative, formally known as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, said Wednesday that the new prices would take effect July 1. The Brussels organization said it has reduced overall messaging prices by 50% since 2001.
It said the reductions on financial messages would range from 4% to 30%; the average message price would drop 8.2%.
High-volume discounts for large users will range from 20% to 36% for messages within institutions.
