Headlines:
First Data in Marketing Pact
First Data Corp. has agreed to market small-business payroll processing products and services on behalf of Automatic Data Processing Inc., of Roseland, N.J.
The two companies announced the multiyear agreement Monday.
In addition to offering ADP's EasyPay service for companies with less than 50 employees, the Denver processor will also market ADP's TotalPay product suite, which includes funds transfer, fraud protection, and check reconciliation features; and Total Tax Complete, a set of compliance services for filing taxes, managing unemployment insurance, and handling human resources paperwork.
First Data said it plans to start offering the products and services immediately in a few locations. This year the offerings will be made available to all its bank partners and independent sales organizations.
Swift Adds Messaging Category
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication has adopted rules that let multinational corporations use the SwiftNet messaging network to connect to multiple banks.
As expected, Swift shareholders voted overwhelmingly last week to approve the creation of a corporate participant category for the network.
Previously, companies could connect to SwiftNet only through a Member-Administered Closed User Group, which is sponsored by a single bank, or through a program called Treasury Counterparty. More than 120 corporations now use those two programs to connect to Swift through 100 banks.
Nancy Atkinson, a senior analyst at the Boston research and advisory firm Aite Group LLC, said the vote to create the category is an acknowledgment by banks "that the worth of their relationships with corporates depend on the value-added services that they provide, rather than the delivery mechanism."
