Electronic Payments Week articles from October 2004

Electronic Payments Week archives from October 2004

The Fed Works On Where To Send Your Pension Check.(automated clearinghouse)
October 5, 2004... FedACH International (iACH), the Federal Reserve's cross-border automated clearinghouse (ACH) initiative, is moving again after losing steam right after leaving the starting block. "There seem to be a number of things that are happening at...

Has Time Healed All JP Morgan Chase, CitiGroup Wounds?
October 5, 2004... With JP Morgan Chase & Co. in his hands, Jamie Dimon now has his chance to settle the score with his former partner, Sandy Weil. And he, and Weil's baby, CitiGroup, Inc., are making -- or not making -- choices now that may get him there. ...

Who's Who.(appointments and elections)
October 5, 2004... * Chris Burr was elected president of the San Diego chapter of the Risk Management Association. He's senior vice president of commercial lending at San Diego's Security Business Bank, and he's been in San Diego banking for 20 years. The RMA is...

ABM Amro Calls In The Maytag Repairman.(money laundering)
October 5, 2004... ABN Amro's New York office has been quietly shutting down more than 100 correspondent banking relationships, and it is installing better software worldwide in the wake of its July deal with federal banking authorities to do a better job of...

iBill: Curiouser And Curiouser.(mergers and acquisitions)
October 5, 2004... The iBill story is beginning to sound like a John Gresham novel, by way of Lewis Carroll. iBill was bought back in March by a Penthouse Internatio-nal subsidiary, Media Billing LLC, from InterCept Inc. for $23.5 million in cash plus assumption...

New To Market.
October 5, 2004... * Southeastern Companies, a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) in Florida, signed a deal to use SecureCheck RCP from AP Technology, a subsidiary of AcuPrint Inc. This will enable its members to distribute check printing to satellite...

Checklist.(software and banking industry)
October 5, 2004... PeopleSoft [PSFT] At press time, this company unexpectedly fired Craig Conway, its president and CEO, citing what reports say was a loss of confidence in him by the board. This may signal a turn in PeopleSoft's resistance against Oracle...

P2P Companies Pose No Threat To Banks...Yet.
October 12, 2004... If you were worried that Yahoo! PayDirect or PayPal was a threat to your business, here are a few word of advice: Don't worry, be happy. Twenty years ago, banks were told that if they didn't adjust to changing times, they'd lose most of...

Banking And The Future Of Enterprise Payments.
October 12, 2004... The idea of an integrated payments system that increases profits while squeezing costs may seem like a wistful dream, but according to Financial Insights analyst Aaron McPherson, it's on the way. The idea isn't just about using existing...

Pan-Asian Card Use Flows, Ebbs.(Brief Article)
October 12, 2004... The year 2005 is being viewed as a lynchpin for the Chinese credit-card market. According to a new study from the Lafferty Group, China is expected to report a 47.5-percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in new cards issued from 2003...

Who's Who.
October 12, 2004... * Dennis Bauer was named vice president of worldwide sales for Xign Corp. He had been serving as senior vice president of worldwide sales for Creekpath Systems. (Xign Corp., 925/251-4514) * R. Crosby Kemper Jr., retired as senior chairman...

NACHA May Up Some Transaction Fees.(Brief Article)
October 12, 2004... NACHA, the electronic payments association, is floating a proposal to raise the fees it charges banks that allow unauthorized transactions to pass through the system. The fees for what are called "network return entries," which run between...

More BofA Layoffs.(Brief Article)
October 12, 2004... Bank of America (BofA) an-nounced 4,500 layoffs about a month after its major management shakeup and realignment. The layoffs, which comprise about 2.5 percent of the bank's 178,000 employees, will mainly be among the back-office and support...

Supremes Sing The Blues To Visa, MasterCard.(Brief Article)
October 12, 2004... The U.S. Supreme Court declined without comment to hear an anti-trust case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against Visa USA and MasterCard International. The case is based on a complaint by Discover Financial Services Inc. that the...

IFX Forum Pushes For Standards.
October 12, 2004... The Interactive Financial eXchange Forum (IFX) published its latest version of the IFX specification for public review, and it announced the formation of a Branch Banking Services Working Group. The new IFX specs include support for a...

New To Market.
October 12, 2004... * Israel-based Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd. bought Dione PLC from its shareholders for $69 million in cash; shareholders included GE Equity and Tamares Capital Foundation. If Dione meets undisclosed financial targets in 2005 and 2006,...

Correction.
October 12, 2004... In the Oct. 5 issue of EPW, Sandy Weill's last name was spelled as Weil. We regret the error. [Copyright 2004 PBI Media, LLC. All rights reserved.]

The Checklist.
October 12, 2004... Financial Insights Financial Insights, a unit of International Data Corp., opened new consulting offices in Singapore and Milan. Singapore's office has three consultants while Milan's has four. First National Bancshares Inc. [FBMT] ...

At Sibos '04: Boston Consulting Report Makes Waves.
October 19, 2004... Banks need to come to grips with their payments business or be eaten alive, said the Boston Consulting Group in one of the most talked-about papers circulating at Sibos '04 in Atlanta last week. The heart of the matter is the revolution in...

Sibos '04 Special Report: Payments On Center Stage.
October 19, 2004... The 2004 Sibos conference was the usual roaring nexus for the payments industry. The 3,500-plus attendees spent five exhausting days listening to speeches and meandering across the floor of the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta --...

N.Y. Fed Chief Details Security Threats, Solutions.
October 19, 2004... Timothy F. Geithner, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, gave what will probably be regarded as a seminal speech to Sibos '04 attendees last week. His theme: Safety, resiliency, and systemic risk management for the U.S....

Why AmSouth Is Paying $50 Million in Fines.
October 19, 2004... AmSouth Bancorporation, parent of AmSouth Bank, agreed last week to pay a total of $50 million in fines as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of Mississippi because of what were called...

Metavante Buys VECTORsgi.(Brief Article)
October 19, 2004... Metavante Corp. said last week it was buying Addison, Texas-based VECTORsgi, a unit of Thoma Cressey Equity Partners, for $100 million, plus another $35 million if certain unnamed performance criteria were met. The company will continue to...

Who's Who.(Brief Article)
October 19, 2004... * Jerry Portocalis, senior vice president at BillMatrix Corp., was named chairman of the steering committee of NACHA's Council for Electronic Billing and Payment. (BillMatrix Corp., 214/750-2700; NACHA, 703/561-1100) * Simon Pugh, vice...

New To Market.(transcation card industry events)
October 19, 2004... * CitiGroup's Global Transaction Services began selling its payment operations on an outsourced white-labeled basis last week. Called Borderless Banking, the product lets customers do business over Citi's global network. Products include...

Checklist.
October 19, 2004... Bank of America Corporation [BAC] BofA reported third quarter earnings of $3.76 billion, or $.91 per share, on total income of $12.73 billion, compared with earnings of $2.92 billion, or $.96 per share, on total income of $9.92 billion, in...

Cellphone Micropayments: Tiny Acorn Or Just Tiny?
October 26, 2004... The idea buying something and paying for it with your cellphone is commonplace for many Europeans and Asians, but it's strictly Buck Rogers stuff to a lot of Americans. That's about to change. The foundations for enabling such transactions...

CitiGroup Markets 'Borderless Banking' Internationally.
October 26, 2004... CitiGroup has begun marketing its global payments operation on a whitelabeled basis to banks that need to be in the international trade business, but that can't afford the IT platforms necessary. Citi is calling it "Borderless Banking." ...

Massacre At CitiGroup.
October 26, 2004... Heads have rolled following Japan's decision to oust CitiGroup's Private Banking Group from the country and to fine the company $50 million because of irregularities connected to insurance sales and suspected money-laundering activities. ...

Union Bank Agrees To N.Y. Fed Strictures.(Union Bank of California)(New York Federal Savings Bank)
October 26, 2004... In the latest in what's become a steady stream of agreements between major banks and the New York Federal Reserve over alleged lapses concerning banks' money-laundering vigilance, Union Bank of California International agreed to submit to...

Diebold Slapped With Antitrust Suit.(Diebold Inc.)
October 26, 2004... Diebold Inc. is the subject of an antitrust suit in San Francisco federal court by the Financial & Security Products Assn., alleging recent anticompetitive practices that the group says in its complaint "maintain (s) and extend(s) its monopoly...

Pay-As-You-Go Model.
October 26, 2004... Stephan Shambach, CEO of demandware inc., may have a business model that people in the payments business may want to watch. His service includes a payments piece that pretty much covers the payments waterfront, sub-hosted by CyberSource Inc.,...

Who's Who.
October 26, 2004... * James B. Wigdale, chairman of Marshall & Ilsley Corp., will retire, effective Dec. 31, but he'll remain on the board. Dennis J. Kuester, M&I's president and CEO, will succeed him. Wigdale joined the bank in 1962, becoming chairman in 1992....

New To Market.
October 26, 2004... * The National Clearing House (NCHA) added the Twin Cites Clearing House Association (TCCHA) of Minneapolis and St. Paul and its 11 members to its automated net settlement network; NCHA says it expects to go live Oct. 15. TCCHA's signing makes...

The Checklist.
October 26, 2004... AmSouth Bankcorp. [ASO] Alabama's AmSouth reported net income of $119.6 million, or $.33 per share, on revenues of $590 million for the past quarter, compared with net income of $157.4 million, or $.45 per share, on revenues of $572.2...