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Open Solutions Canada Selects Hypercom’s HBNet for One of Canada’s Largest Off-Premise ATM and POS Networks
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Open Solutions Inc.® and Hypercom Corporation (NYSE: HYC) today announced HBNet, Inc., a Hypercom® subsidiary, will provide high speed transaction transport services for Open Solutions Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of Open Solutions, which operates one of Canada’s largest off-premise ATM and point-of-sale networks. Open Solutions is a leading provider of integrated enabling technologies for financial service providers across the United States, Canada and internationally.
“HBNet brings us the exact specifications we need in terms of stability and security that would be impossible to replicate internally,” says Rob Palin, general manager of the Payment Solutions Group at Open Solutions Canada. “We believe HBNet is the fastest and most reliable network and that it will make our payment processing in Canada even more competitive.”
The use of HBNet will enhance Open Solutions Canada’s ability to smoothly and securely process millions of ATM and POS transactions each month to financial institutions. HBNet’s unparalleled performance is achieved through multiple network and equipment redundancies that guarantee the seamless routing of all transactions. HBNet also provides the industry’s highest level of security for dial and Internet transaction processing.
“Open Solutions Canada is a premiere Canadian account and one that validates HBNet’s offering of performance, price, service and know-how,” says Connie Festa, HBNet Vice President Network Services at Hypercom.
Hypercom’s HBNet network speeds the authorization and processing of electronic transactions for retail point-of-sale, financial, government, health care and other customers in both the dial and IP POS markets.
HBNet is powered by robust, ultra high-density MegaNAC® 180 Network Access Controllers (NACs) strategically positioned within the North American Public Switching Telephone Network (PSTN) and at processor data centers. It supports all POS terminal protocols at any modem speed up to V.92 and provides uninterrupted service with no single point of failure, seamless load balancing, state-of-the-art Web-based reporting, and simple all-inclusive pricing.
Open Solutions Canada designs, builds, integrates and operates advanced banking and payment technologies for financial institutions, retailers, independent sales organizations (ISOs), third-party organizations and processing centers worldwide. Open Solutions Canada’s Payment Solutions Group supports and markets state-of-the-art, industry-standard payment transaction processing solutions internationally. The Payment Solutions Group operates one of the largest ATM and POS payment switches in Canada. In addition, it directly supports more than 30 Canadian financial institutions through a network providing shared cash transaction processing, ATM monitoring and 7/24 support.
About Open Solutions Inc.
Open Solutions Inc. offers a fully featured strategic information management product platform that integrates core data processing applications built on a single centralized Oracle relational database, with Internet banking, cash management, CRM/business intelligence, financial accounting and management tools, profitability tools, wealth management, imaging, digital documents, interactive voice response, network services, HSAs, payments and loan origination solutions. Open Solutions’ full suite of products and services allows banks, thrifts, credit unions and financial services providers in the United States, Canada and internationally to better compete in today’s aggressive financial services marketplace, and expand and tap their trusted financial relationships, client affinity, community presence and personalized service.
For more information about Open Solutions or its financial product line, contact Mickey Goldwasser by email at mgoldwasser@opensolutions.com or by phone at 860.652.3153 or via fax at 860.652.3156. Visit Open Solutions’ Internet site at www.opensolutions.com.
Open Solutions Inc. is a registered trademark of Open Solutions Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright 2008 Open Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.
Global payment technology leader Hypercom Corporation delivers a full suite of high security, end-to-end electronic payment products and services. The Company's solutions address the high security electronic transaction needs of banks and other financial institutions, processors, large scale retailers, smaller merchants, quick service restaurants, and users in the transportation, petroleum, healthcare, prepaid, unattended and many other markets. Hypercom solutions enable businesses in more than 100 countries to securely expand their revenues and profits. With its acquisition of Thales e-Transactions business last month, Hypercom became the second largest provider of electronic payment solutions and services in Western Europe, and solidified its position as the third largest provider globally.
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Fiserv / Allstate Workplace Division Team up to Create Business Economies
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Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading provider of technology solutions for the financial and insurance industries, announced that Allstate Workplace Division is realizing superior results from its project to implement an automated Fiserv solution that supports growth objectives and improves efficiencies. Working strategically with Fiserv, Allstate reports it met key objectives ahead of schedule, including improved ease of doing business for employers and independent agents, and increased sales and economies of scale for the Allstate Workplace Division (AWD).
At the heart of the solution is the worksite engine of Fiserv Life Portraits ES. Using the capabilities of Fiserv Life Portrait ES paired with the ease of integration provided by ACORD transaction standards, Fiserv and AWD provide agents with an enrollment solution complete with multi-product electronic application and electronic signatures.
"It’s truly been an evolutionary project," stated Ron Pizur, chief architect of the solution for AWD and senior vice president of Information Technology. "With the key business drivers identified, we analyzed our current systems and technologies to determine the gaps. We found that Fiserv had the illustration solution and could develop the enrollment solution we needed to fill the gap."
Pizur selected Fiserv because the two companies had a strong relationship which dates back to 1996 when AWD first became a client of Fiserv. Over the course of two years Fiserv and AWD created an execution plan for this new project.
"The company has seen amazing results from the sales force," reports Matt Osborn, senior vice president of Strategy and Business Development, AWD. "Agents who were reluctant to use the new technology have become some of its biggest fans."
For the past ten years new business at Allstate has grown 14% per year and Osborn said this project has helped agents to manage that growth quickly and efficiently.
"We went from virtually all paper applications in 1999 to 66% of our applications received electronically in 2007, and we’ve shortened policy turnaround time by 80%," said Osborn. "We get more work done faster, we’ve cut the time-to-issue in half and more than half of our applications go through underwriting without human touches."
According to Osborn, the careful planning and the enthusiastic promotion of the solution made the difference.
"We are extremely pleased that Allstate chose to partner with Fiserv to provide an intuitive solution for agents," states Mark Damico, president, Fiserv Insurance Group. "The resulting relationship brings outstanding value to us both. Our Fiserv 2.0 initiatives complement AWD’s goal of delivering a broad portfolio of products in a streamlined, easy-to-do-business-with fashion."
In addition to worksite and agency support, Fiserv also provides Allstate with direct-bank core system processing and enhanced electronic billing capabilities through CheckFree solutions.
Allstate Workplace Division is among the top insurance carriers providing voluntary life, health, disability and dental benefits to employees at work through an independent agent distribution system. The company recognizes that its success relies on more than delivering great products. AWD has to make it easy to do business, by building value in the relationship with agents through tools and processes perfectly attuned to workplace demands. Partnering with Fiserv has continually given them this ability.
About Allstate Workplace Division
Allstate Workplace Division is the marketing name for American Heritage Life Insurance Company (Home Office: Jacksonville, FL), a wholly owned subsidiary of The Allstate Corporation. Complete details on the full range of AWD products and services can be accessed at www.allstateatwork.com. Allstate Workplace Division products are available in 49 states and distributed in New York through Allstate Life Insurance Company of New York.
About Fiserv Insurance
Hundreds of Life, P&C, Health, and Reinsurance carriers, managing general agents, and administrators rely on Fiserv for innovative insurance technology, professional services, and outsourcing solutions. Fiserv solutions include insurance policy and claims administration, underwriting, rating, advanced billing and collections, point-of-sale technology and straight-through processing solutions. In addition, more than 3,000 clients use the company’s market-leading financial and compliance solutions. Fiserv can be found on the Internet at www.fiservinsurance.com.
About Fiserv, Inc.
Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a Fortune 500 company, provides information management and electronic commerce systems and services to the financial and insurance industries. Leading services include transaction processing, outsourcing, electronic bill payment and presentment, investment management solutions, business process outsourcing (BPO), software and systems solutions. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., the company is the leading provider of core processing solutions for U.S. banks, credit unions and thrifts. Fiserv was ranked the largest provider of information technology services to the financial services industry worldwide in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 FinTech 100 surveys. In 2007, the company completed the acquisition of CheckFree, a leading provider of electronic commerce services. Fiserv reported nearly $4 billion in total revenue from continuing operations for 2007. For more information, please visit www.fiserv.com.
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Broadridge Adds BNY ConvergEx Group’s LiquidPoint to BPS Platform
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LiquidPoint Provides Superior Options Liquidity and Cost Savings for Electronic Options Traders
Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: BR) announced that they are now offering their brokerage clients access to LiquidPoint’s sophisticated electronic options trading platform. LiquidPoint, a member of BNY ConvergEx Group, LLC, is a leading provider of global agency brokerage and investment technology solutions.
LiquidPoint provides electronic trading through their options execution management system. The combined LiquidPoint and Broadridge solution gives users fully electronic direct market access (DMA) to all U.S. listed options exchanges via a single desktop application, and provides the ability to sweep those exchanges in order to seek enhanced liquidity and potential price improvement.
“The addition of LiquidPoint to our Brokerage Processing Services (BPS) platform allows our brokerage clients the opportunity to take full advantage of the deep pool of market liquidity in options that LiquidPoint has brought together, a feature in high demand by today’s options traders,” said Charlie Marchesani, President, Broadridge, Securities Processing Solutions, U.S. “LiquidPoint’s solution will also afford our clients the opportunity to capture price improvements, which benefits them significantly. This addition to our trading services is a direct result of our enduring and highly-valued relationship with BNY ConvergEx Group,” Marchesani continued.
“At LiquidPoint, we strive to optimize our clients’ electronic options trading capabilities by providing cutting-edge technology that increases speed and efficiency,” stated Anthony J. Saliba, Chief Executive Officer of LiquidPoint. “It is through our relationships with partners like Broadridge that we have been able to establish ourselves as a leading provider of trading and investment technology solutions.”
LiquidPoint, acquired by BNY ConvergEx Group in July 2007, is an agency-based registered broker-dealer that specializes in derivatives execution management technology and brokerage services for U.S. listed options. LiquidPoint provides a total solution for today’s dynamic and diverse trading requirements, combining sophisticated trading tools with its commitment to superior order execution services and focused customer support.
About Broadridge
Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., with over $2.0 billion in revenues and more than 40 years of experience is a leading global provider of technology-based outsourcing solutions to the financial services industry. Our systems and services include investor communication, securities processing, and clearing and outsourcing solutions. Broadridge offers a broad, integrated suite of innovative global solutions across the investment lifecycle and provides a wide range of cost-effective and scalable solutions to the financial industry. Our systems help reduce the need for clients to make significant capital investments in operations infrastructure, thereby allowing them to increase their focus on core business activities. For more information about Broadridge, please visit www.broadridge.com.About BNY ConvergEx Group
BNY ConvergEx Group, LLC provides global institutional agency brokerage and investment technology solutions to institutional clients worldwide. The Company’s key business lines – Liquidity and Execution Management, Investment Technologies and Intermediary and Clearing Services – focus on a broad array of services designed to deliver a comprehensive, integrated platform of performance-driven, global multi-asset class trading capabilities. BNY ConvergEx Group is comprised of the following businesses: BNY ConvergEx Execution Solutions LLC (member NYSE/FINRA/SIPC), including BNY Global Transition Management and LJR Recapture Services; LiquidPoint, LLC (member CBOE/SIPC); Eze Castle Transaction Services LLC (member FINRA/SIPC); Westminster Research Associates LLC (member FINRA/SIPC); G-Trade Services LLC (member FINRA/SIPC); BNY Jaywalk LLC; ConvergEx Global Markets Ltd. and Eze Castle Software LLC. BNY ConvergEx Group is an affiliate of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available at www.bnyconvergex.com.Read Full Article
National Bank of Kuwait Selects Open Solutions’ Imaged-Based Item Processing for its New York Branch
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$800 million U.S. branch to improve processing operations
National Bank of Kuwait SAK, New York branch (NBK NY) announced it has selected Open Solutions Inc.’s ® image-based item processing solution to achieve a streamlined, Check 21 strategy. Open Solutions is a leading provider of integrated enabling technologies for financial service providers across the United States, Canada and internationally.
Founded in 1952 as the first national bank in the Gulf Region, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has grown to become the largest and most dominant financial institution in Kuwait. The bank also has the most extensive regional and international network in that area. The bank has branches, subsidiaries and regional offices in New York, London, Paris, Geneva, Lebanon, Jordon, Bahrain, Qatar, Singapore, China, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
NBK’s New York branch, NBK NY, has more than $800 million in assets alone. The U.S. branch was established in 1984 to complement the services of its Kuwait branches by offering a wide range of financial services to corporate and individual clients, including commercial loans, real estate advisory, treasury services and cash management, trade finance, funds transfer and private banking.
“By deploying an imaging solution in our New York office, we will be able to automate most of our check processing, streamlining our workflow and reducing costs associated with manual processes,” said Rex Richardson, assistant general manager, NBK, New York Office. “We were in need of a system that would comply with Check 21 and move us towards an image capture environment.”
Open Solutions’ image-enabled item processing system drives a wide range of check-processing transports and streamlines a financial institution’s operations, optimizes workflow, enhances business flexibility and generates fee income. The system provides for improved funds availability, offers faster client service and helps institutions retain more accounts and saves on monthly mailing costs.
Tim Clewley, senior vice president and general manager, Imaged Payment Technologies Group, said, “Through our imaging product suite, we provide institutions of all kinds innovative technology to be more efficient, profitable, and competitive and provide more compelling products and services to their clients. Whether an institution deploys the check imaging system as an in-house system or chooses to outsource the entire system, we ensure the highest level of operational success.”
“From Check 21 to online and mobile banking, the payments frontier continues to evolve,” said Louis Hernandez, Jr., Open Solutions’ chairman and CEO. “More recently, NACHA’s International ACH Transaction rules are scheduled to take effect in 2009, allowing U.S. institutions to send and receive cross border ACH payments. Open Solutions realizes the importance of having a solution that change with market dynamics and we continue to provide solutions that support institutions’ check imaging initiatives. We are pleased to work with one of the strongest and most dominant financial institutions in the Middle East, and we look forward to transforming National Bank of Kuwait’s New York branch’s check processing operations.“
About Open Solutions Inc.
Open Solutions Inc. offers a fully-featured strategic information management product platform that integrates core data processing applications built on a single, centralized Oracle relational database with Internet banking, cash management, CRM/business intelligence, financial accounting and management tools, profitability tools, wealth management, imaging, digital documents, interactive voice response, network services, HSAs, payments and loan origination solutions.
Open Solutions’ full suite of products and services allows banks, thrifts, credit unions and financial services providers in the United States, Canada and internationally to better compete in today’s aggressive financial services marketplace, and expand and tap their trusted financial relationships, client affinity, community presence and personalized service.
For more information about Open Solutions or its financial product lines, contact Mickey Goldwasser by email at mgoldwasser@opensolutions.com, by phone at 860.652.3153 or via fax at 860.652.3156. Visit Open Solutions’ Internet site at www.opensolutions.com.
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Fiserv Launches CheckFree International Payments Processing Suite to Address OFAC Compliance and International ACH Transaction Code
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New modules provide robust monitoring and validation to ensure regulatory and
NACHA processing compliance
CheckFree Services Corporation, now part of Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading provider of information technology services to the financial and insurance industries, launched the CheckFree International Payments Processing Suite™ of software products to provide financial institutions with a tool designed to assist the financial institution in obtaining regulatory and processing compliance with both the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and NACHA. Due to growth in the international payments market NACHA implemented a unique SEC code called International ACH Transaction (IAT), for the purpose of clearly differentiating international payments from domestic transactions. In response, CheckFree developed this suite of products, which includes two stand-alone modules, the CheckFree AML AdvisorTM module and CheckFree IAT Format ValidationTM module.
"As globalization accelerates, international funds transfers are becoming more of a concern for businesses and the banks that serve them," said Aaron McPherson, practice director for Financial Insights, an IDC Company. "The new IAT code that goes into effect next March will provide new options, but also new challenges in the areas of money laundering and OFAC compliance."
By March 20, 2009 all financial services organizations must comply with the new IAT regulatory coding and government mandates designed to help safeguard the U.S. financial system from abuses involving international payments, including money laundering and terrorist funding. As a result, companies must analyze information in the data fields and compare them with government lists to ensure that no funds are transferred in or out of accounts blocked in accordance with OFAC sanctions, while making certain that additional data elements have been completed for all international financial transactions. Easily integrated with existing CheckFree PEP+TM ACH processing systems, the International Payments Processing Suite of products addresses both types of challenges set forth by the IAT code.
The AML Advisor module is a sophisticated OFAC monitoring solution that incorporates the analysis of new IAT data fields and is designed to allow users to achieve a higher level of compliance without increasing processing or staffing costs. This module accepts IAT transaction data, compares it across multiple sanction lists and internally maintained "false positive" databases. The data processing and analysis capabilities reduce the occurrence of false positive results by employing relative correlation, or fuzzy logic, functionality to create match confidence scoring. With a reduction in false positives, back office investigative work, processing holds and unnecessary negative customer impact are drastically reduced.
To assist with ensuring the validity and to enable processing through the ACH network, the IAT Format Validation module immediately analyzes incoming files from originating corporate customers to determine the presence and completion of IAT data fields, and performs deeper content validation for other required data elements. By validating files prior to ACH network submission, users will avoid returned items from the Gateway Operator or the Receiving Depository Financial Institution (RDFI) and costly rework in downstream processing areas such as settlement or reconciliation.
"Increased adoption of international ACH payments, along with the new NACHA IAT format create opportunities for enhanced cross-channel OFAC monitoring and efficient payments processing within financial institutions," said Sam Robb, vice president of Global Payment Solutions at CheckFree. "This new suite of products is designed to assists banks and their corporate customers in ensuring regulatory and processing compliance with NACHA and OFAC, while helping to attract new corporate customers and strengthen the retention of existing ones."
The IAT Validation module will run as a value-added module to a customer’s existing PEP+ application processing mainframe. The AML Advisor module will be integrated with core PEP+ processing, while the OFAC scanning functionality will be facilitated via messaging to a server-based solution. Designed within a scalable, distributed architecture, the software should not require investments in expensive computer equipment or complex data warehouses under normal situations, even for large–scale operations.
About Fiserv Inc.
Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a Fortune 500 company, provides information management and electronic commerce systems and services to the financial and insurance industries. Leading services include transaction processing, outsourcing, electronic bill payment and presentment, investment management solutions, business process outsourcing (BPO), software and systems solutions. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., the company is the leading provider of core processing solutions for U.S. banks, credit unions and thrifts. Fiserv was ranked the largest provider of information technology services to the financial services industry worldwide in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 FinTech 100 surveys. In 2007, the company completed the acquisition of CheckFree, a leading provider of electronic commerce services. Fiserv reported nearly $4 billion in total revenue from continuing operations for 2007. For more information, please visit www.fiserv.com.
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Skywire Software introduces Ingage™
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New software application streamlines data capture helping to automate new business underwriting for insurance carriers
Skywire Software, a leading global provider of software and services for the insurance industry, announced the launch of Ingage, a Web-based software application that streamlines data capture by allowing insurers to create and configure questions and rules through an intelligent front-end data capture presence.
The addition of Ingage to Skywire Software’s portfolio further expands the breadth of software components the company offers to support the rating and underwriting process. In April Skywire Software announced Rating Xpress™, a preloaded content solution that includes loss costs and rating rules. Both Ingage and Rating Xpress integrate with Skywire Software’s Insbridge rules, rating and underwriting system enabling insurers to reduce time associated with maintaining rates, speed time-to-market, and improve rating accuracy, quality and compliance.
Built specifically for the insurance industry to support all lines of business, Ingage provides an online data capture front-end for the complex decision-making involved in insurance applications. An intelligent, Web-based interface empowers producers, CSRs, underwriters or applicants to gather information. Ingage automatically accepts or knocks out the application based on responses to questions. This eases the burden of data entry across all parties involved in the process.
Ingage tracks insurance applications for accuracy and completeness. The software application provides straight-through-processing for common risk types, eliminates redundant entry for agents and underwriters, and integrates seamlessly with Skywire Software’s Insbridge rating engine for quotes.
While Ingage can be used in personal and commercial line environment, it excels in the complexity required for commercial lines. "Compared to the progress in personal lines, straight-through-processing for commercial lines has been slower to take hold because of the number of variables involved," said Jason McDonald, product manager at Skywire Software. "Ingage addresses the increased complexity involved in commercial lines, allowing the concept of smart underwriting to move up the value chain."
Ingage is ACORD XML based for easy integration with multiple systems commonly found in insurance environments, including agency management systems, policy administration, third party information providers, rating engines such as Insbridge, and customer communications management systems such as Skywire Software’s Documaker.
"Skywire Software is committed to continuous innovation and bringing to market software components that are based on industry standards and focused on business user empowerment," said Wendy Gibson, chief marketing officer at Skywire Software. "Our products are designed as components to enable interoperability with other systems through Web services and service-oriented architecture, enabling insurers to automate complex, manual tasks and extend the value of their current technology investments."
"As pricing and business complexity rises the software used to manage pricing and underwriting logic increases in importance, particularly in a soft market," said Craig Weber, senior vice president of Celent’s insurance practice. "Implementing components that enable the data capture to streamline and automate the new business underwriting process and also provide the ability to manage the risk/price equation easily and accurately provides a clear competitive advantage."
Skywire Software is exhibiting this week at ACORD LOMA in Las Vegas. For more information on Ingage, please drop by the company’s booth # 420 or visit www.skywiresoftware.com.
About Skywire Software
Skywire Software is a leading, global software company serving the insurance, financial services, legal and professional services industries. The company develops industry-specific software products that help companies integrate processes, people and information. With products and services that span a range of key functions, including rating, rules, underwriting, business intelligence, data movement, and enterprise-wide document automation and compliance, Skywire Software is dedicated to providing an unparalleled customer experience to more than 2,400 customers in 45 countries worldwide, including 1,450 insurance customers. For more information, contact Skywire Software at 1-800-735-6620 or visit www.skywiresoftware.com.
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WAUSAU’s Latest Remote Corporate Capture Release Leads the Industry in Remittance Integration and Web-Based Deployment Tools
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With its newest release of it’s Remote Deposit Capture (RDC) solution, WAUSAU Financial Systems’ continues to build on its recognized industry leadership position Processing for over 45% of the industry’s retail and wholesale payment processors, WAUSAU’s leadership and rich history in the remittance market sets WAUSAU’s Remote Corporate Capture (RCC) solution apart from its competitors.
WAUSAU was previously named “best of breed” among Remote Corporate Capture solutions, reviewed by Boston-based Celent in the respected analyst firm’s Remote Deposit Capture Vendors: Crossing the Chasm report. Based on its advanced technology and breadth of features categories, WAUSAU was designated the overall performance leader.
With this latest release of WebDDL, WAUSAU once again continues to build upon its leadership capabilities, specifically on the remittance processing side. In a recent vendor evaluation conducted by research firm Aite Group, WAUSAU’s RCC solution was awarded Best Overall Solution for Large and Mid-Sized Banks and also ranked best-in-class for Most Advanced Integrated Remittance and Deposit Capabilities and Training Tools.
Christine Barry, Aite Group Research Director for Wholesale Banking, comments in her Evaluating the Vendors of Remote Deposit: Differentiate, or Step Aside report, “WAUSAU’s WebDDL solution has remittance processing capabilities for both retail and wholesale markets. Its features, coupled with the solution’s advanced remittance capabilities, serve as a real differentiator for WAUSAU, and have positioned the solution a step ahead of its competitors who are just starting to add basic remittance capabilities.”
The current release of the web-based application allows a user to integrate to WAUSAU’s industry-leading ImageRPS retail lockbox solution, its integraPAY® wholesale lockbox solution or any third party remittance processing solution. It can also act as a stand-alone remittance solution that does not require a back office remittance operation to perform successfully, offering an additional option for customers who may process smaller volumes on a daily basis.
The WebDDL offering uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology that supports multiple fonts to read and parse scan lines to perform field validation. The application also features image-based setup that defines fields and scan lines, allowing for a quick and simple remittance document setup process that does not require custom programming. And while most RDC solutions on the market provide a standard Comma Separated Values (CSV) file for importing information into Accounts Receivable (AR) software packages, WebDDL 3.2 allows users to define AR files specific to each individual corporate customer that provides them with only the information they’ve requested, and again, does not require them to do any custom programming.
WAUSAU’s Remote Corporate Capture boasts a scalable architecture that is easy to deploy to meet market demands. The strength of WAUSAU’s holistic Remote Corporate Capture vision and integrated platform provides the ability to offer solutions to a wide breadth of markets, including customer deposits, retail and business-to-business payments and “white label” correspondent bank services.
WAUSAU has also enhanced its Remote Corporate Capture option for the small business segment, bundling its offering in an affordable solution package complete with installation wizards, web-based training, a comprehensive scanner deployment and maintenance program and integration to popular small business accounting software packages such as QuickBooks®. WAUSAU has integrated directly to the QuickBooks® API to allow a corporate customer to create their deposit and update QuickBooks® all within WebDDL, reducing the number of steps required to update their account receivables.
Although WAUSAU introduced its web-based training almost two years ago, the functionality of this feature continues to remain unique when compared to other RDC applications. Ms. Barry recognizes this advanced functionality in her report, writing, “While other vendors claim to offer online training, WAUSAU is the only vendor to offer a high level of training from within its application: Users of the online training module have the option of choosing between a simulation mode, which focuses on specific areas of training, or a demonstration mode, which walks users through the entire process.”
“For example,” Barry continues, “users can watch a short video on how to change a scanner cartridge or how to set security setting and product configurations. Client references participating in this study raved about this feature, and labeled it as a huge cost saver eliminating the hours of time once spent answering basic customer questions. Customers can now help themselves.”
Additional enhancements have been added to the latest release to further drive down the overall cost of implementing and supporting a corporate customer. These enhancements include a simplified wizard-based process to set up a new corporate location and an integrated tool to validate that configuration of the corporate PC meets the minimum requirements of the RDC solution and scanner.
“Our latest Remote Corporate Capture release acknowledges the important role our customers play in helping guide the direction of our solutions,” said Steve Buchberger, Senior Vice President, Solution Management for WAUSAU. “We are very aware of the challenges and demands put on our customers to react quickly to business opportunities in the market. Our objective is to provide our customers leading capabilities to help them win more corporate customers, and to make the deployment of the product as efficient and effective as possible to support the large scale deployment of seats. It’s not just the functionality of our solutions that sets WAUSAU apart; it’s also our integrated, end-to-end, enterprise story that is both comprehensive and unmatched.”
WAUSAU’s web-based solution enables financial institutions to speed the implementation of Remote Corporate Capture with lower upfront investments, increased performance and reduced deployment costs. WAUSAU offers both an in-house and ASP offering.
About WAUSAU Financial Systems
WAUSAU is a premier provider of payment and remittance processing solutions, serving businesses of all types to develop strategies that move money faster. With its products, services and consulting, WAUSAU works with customers to speed check processing, electronic presentment, ACH payments, transaction processing, distributed capture and enterprise content management. WAUSAU’s innovative solutions provide results for a wide range of organizations including financial institutions, insurance companies, utilities, retail businesses and governmental agencies. Find more information about WAUSAU at www.wausaufs.com.
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State Department Federal Credit Union Establishes Worldwide Link with VSoft’s Merchant Capture
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Federal credit union uses innovative technology to capture deposits from around the globe
VSoft Corporation, a global information and technology provider of process improvement solutions for financial institutions, announced that State Department Federal Credit Union (SDFCU), a $900 million asset size not-for-profit cooperative based in Washington, D.C., has chosen to implements its Agile MerchantTM – Web merchant capture solution. SDFCU has 64,000 members including more than 250 U.S. Embassies worldwide and more than 100 organizational accounts such as schools, commissaries and recreation associations across the nation.
“The demand for merchant capture services arose predominantly from our overseas members,” said Charlie Roberts, chief information officer, State Department Federal Credit Union. “Using the VSoft system, we can now offer immediate deposit to all of our international members, and by eliminating international courier expenses, we have drastically cuts costs. VSoft’s superior technology and breadth of product features were key factors in our decision. We were also impressed with their willingness to work closely with us for a seamless integration into our existing item processing system.”
VSoft’s Agile Merchant – Web allows SDFCU’s business members to capture check images at their offices and electronically transmit items to the credit union. SDFCU plans to first roll out the solution to its organizational accounts located throughout the country. The credit union then plans to implement at State Department facilities throughout the world. This eliminates time-consuming international transportation and high courier fees associated with traditional paper processing.
VSoft’s solution reduces float. Funds become available sooner as personnel can simply scan the checks as they receive them. Business members can consolidate their deposits into a single preferred financial institution, averting any geographic dependency.
“Paper lag means added cost and lost float. This is accentuated for the large number checks from outside U.S. borders,” said Vijay Balakrishnan, chief operating officer, VSoft Corporation. “This deployment of remote capture on a global scale is an excellent example of the tangible benefits of Straight Through Image ProcessingTM by shrinking the distance between capture and clearing.”
“With the State Department Federal Credit Union we have taken remote capture to another level,” said Murthy Veeraghanta, president, VSoft Corporation. “In an increasingly globalized world, technologies like Agile Merchant – Web are essential to move funds across international boundaries. VSoft has always been at the forefront of solution innovation, and this is another example of the breadth of our products. ”
About State Department Federal Credit Union
State Department Federal Credit Union serves employees of the State Department worldwide. The Credit Union also serves National Credit Union Administration employees and employees of other Select Employer Groups. SDFCU has assets exceeding $900 million with more than 64,000 members. See our website at www.sdfcu.org for more information.
About VSoft Corporation
Established in 1996, VSoft Corporation is a global provider of financial technology solutions that improve service, reduce cost and maximize efficiency. Its broad image-based solutions include distributed deposit and payment capture across all points of presentment, back office check processing, image exchange, document management, remittance and lockbox operations. Customers include banks, credit unions, savings institutions, transaction processors, governments, utilities, telecommunications and retail organizations. VSoft’s proven products and services ensure versatile and rapid delivery of solutions to mission-critical needs.
Included in Deloitte & Touche’s Technology Fast 50 and the 2007 Inc. 5,000, VSoft’s solutions are used by more than 1,700 financial institutions worldwide. VSoft recently received high remarks from Celent, and was selected by Bank Technology News as one of The Innovators 2007. For more information call (770) 225-7692 or visit vsoftcorp.com.
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New Kopel Insurance Implements InsFocus Insurance-Specific Business Intelligence System
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InsFocus Systems Ltd. (www.insfocus.com), a provider of business intelligence solutions for insurance companies, announced that New Kopel Insurance Company has implemented InsFocus’ insurance-specific business intelligence system. The system, InsFocus BI, set up in a record time of three months, provides New Kopel’s executives with clearly analyzed and focused information and analysis according to their business requirements. The system extracts data from New Kopel's databases as well as from external sources into the company’s data warehouse.
InsFocus BI is an end-to-end business intelligence solution designed specifically for the content, calculations, definitions and data structures of insurance companies. It includes a variety of insurance-specific analyses, functions and reports, and enables insurers to gain insight into their business performance and profitability.
New Kopel’s executives can independently define complex reports and queries from numerous measurement and dimensions building blocks. The system’s user-friendly interface uses familiar insurance terminology, enabling business users to generate reports and analysis with great flexibility.
“Our aim was to have the system live and running in the first quarter of the company’s activity, after we started our operation in January 2008,” said Zvi Leibushor, New Kopel’s CEO. “InsFocus addressed this challenge, and InsFocus BI is very important to the development of New Kopel’s activity.”
“The implementation of InsFocus BI at New Kopel Insurance is an important milestone for InsFocus,” said Uri Taiber, InsFocus Founder and CEO. “The short implementation time and the ability of New Kopel’s executives to use it immediately in complex queries is testament to the excellence of the system and its insurance-specific capabilities.”
Easy to use and maintain, InsFocus BI is an intuitive system that allows non-technical insurance professionals to focus on what they know best – their insurance business. Spanning the full spectrum of the data warehousing process – from raw data transformation to clear and accurate reporting – the comprehensive solution helps insurance professionals at all levels make better business decisions and increase profitability. The system serves business executives and professionals in the marketing, underwriting, claims, reinsurance, actuarial and accounting domains.
About InsFocus Systems Ltd.
InsFocus Systems Ltd. (www.insfocus.com), a privately owned company, was founded in 2003 to meet the insurance industry’s growing need for insurance-specific intuitive BI applications. The company's mission is to provide insurance company executives with unique solutions to help them maximize their profits and control risks.
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Nedbank Capital Selects Coral8’s Complex Event Processing Solution to Make the Leap in Performance and Enhance Customer Experience
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Coral8 Engine Speeds New Application Development, Migration of Legacy Applications, and the Delivery of New Products to Bank Customers
Coral8, Inc., a leading provider of Complex Event Processing (CEP) software, announced Nedbank Capital, the investment banking business of Nedbank Group Limited and one of the four largest banking groups in South Africa, has selected Coral8 Engine as the centerpiece of its new trading applications. Coral8’s CEP platform will be the foundation of Nedbank’s trading application architecture, providing the bank with the quickest path to develop sophisticated applications.
“We are extremely pleased with Coral8 Engine’s agility and flexibility, as well as the responsiveness of Coral8’s engineering organization and technical support team,” said Dan Zulu, head of IT at Nedbank Capital. “During the evaluation period, we developed and deployed in just three months an initial set of market-making applications based on Coral8’s CEP platform. Our next step is migrating existing strategies and algorithms from our legacy arbitrage and basket trading applications to the new architecture. This daunting task would typically take five man-years to complete but can be done in approximately three months on Coral8’s platform. The new CEP infrastructure reinforces our customer-centric business model, allowing us to provide a superior customer experience by delivering more new products more often.”
Nedbank Capital evaluated many US- and UK-based CEP vendors to address a number of business challenges. For instance, having to custom code applications led to costly, long development cycles and slowed time-to-market of new services. Also, Nedbank Capital lacked a shared infrastructure for responding to evolving market dynamics and needed to address the stovepipe applications that were costly to maintain. Finally, limited availability of programmers skilled in both programming and industry-domain knowledge in South Africa made it difficult to staff projects.
Nedbank Capital clearly needed a new platform that would support the development of next-generation market-making applications and the bank’s expansion.
Coral8 Engine was selected after a rigorous evaluation because it meets Nedbank Capital’s requirements:
· Offers a flexible, dynamic server architecture with an agile infrastructure capable of responding immediately to changing business requirements
· Easily integrates with multiple data sources and different trading applications, in a matter of one to two days
· Is powered by familiar, SQL-based Continuous Computation Language (CCL) that reduces the learning curve and speeds development cycles for even the most sophisticated market-making strategies and algorithms
· The CCL syntax relieves the staffing pain by enabling the bank to hire developers with business domain expertise but who may have only high-level programming skills
Equally important to the bank was Coral8’s open evaluation and development business model, giving businesses access – even during the trial phase – to production-grade software and to the technical support team.
“We are delighted to be a strategic part of Nedbank Capital’s expansion and provide the CEP platform that is helping to transform the bank’s trading environment,” said Terry Cunningham, Coral8 CEO. “With Nedbank Capital, Coral8 now serves customers on every continent. Our global deployment gives us insight into a wide range of business and technology issues enterprises are facing worldwide. Ultimately, the knowledge we are building will benefit all our customers.”
Nedbank Group Limited is one of the four largest banking groups in South Africa offering a wide range of business, corporate and retail banking, property finance, investment banking, private banking, foreign exchange and securities trading services. Nedbank Capital comprises the group's investment banking businesses that together manage the structuring, lending, underwriting and trading businesses.
About Coral8
Based in Mountain View, Calif., Coral8, Inc. is a leading provider of software for Complex Event Processing (CEP). Bringing together high-performance, innovative SQL-based programming language and enterprise-class features, Coral8 Engine is the fastest, lowest cost way to build and deploy powerful, sophisticated CEP applications. Coral8 is speeding the delivery of critical business information for customers worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies and global leaders within financial services, e-commerce, telecommunications, transportation, government and other rapidly growing vertical applications. For more information, visit www.coral8.com or call (650) 210-3810. Read Full Article
ATERAS Successfully Completes the Policy Number Expansion Project for Progressive
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ATERAS announced that the Policy Number Expansion Project for Claims IT Systems at Progressive using DB-Shuttle™ Enterprise Change capabilities has been a success! The purpose of the project was to use a standard automated method to identify and change the field definition and length of 69 different DB2 columns (including policy number, street names, form numbers and status codes) across multiple databases in the Progressive Enterprise.
ATERAS used DB-Shuttle Enterprise Change technology to collect and analyze 11,186,985 lines of code. During the analysis, DB-Shuttle identified 41,431 lines of code impacted by the changes and identified 2,827 possible lines of code to change. DB-Shuttle generated the required change rules and applied them to 1,993 programs and copybooks, including changes required within the logic for handling numeric to alphanumeric changes. The modified programs were delivered to the Progressive teams, ready for installation and testing. All modifications were migrated to production on April 26, 2008.
Enterprise Field Change Manager identifies every line of code that might be affected by the required change. Recommendations on the required code changes are also made automatically. In addition the tool can determine additional “watch fields” as data moves between fields and programs. DB-Shuttle generates the change rules to make all the source code changes. Once the changes are accepted, the rules are automatically applied and the revised application code is generated ready for testing.
The automated process that Enterprise Field Change Manager offers allowed Progressive to continue with production changes throughout the testing phase. New production changes were collected each month and the change manager analysis repeated with the new code, then the deltas were delivered to Progressive.
“Our patent-pending DB-Shuttle automation technology offers a full suite of modernization tools for Global Enterprises. The Enterprise Change technology allows any organization the ability to affect change through minimized risk by using an automated solution. Insurance companies benefit from this unique capability as their business changes or mandated regulatory changes occur. ATERAS is the natural choice for modernization without adding risk,” says Scott Miller president and chief executive officer of ATERAS.
About Progressive Insurance
The Progressive Group of Insurance Companies, in business since 1937, is the country’s third largest auto insurance group and largest seller of motorcycle and personal watercraft policies based on premiums written, and is a market leader in commercial auto insurance.
Progressive is committed to becoming consumers’ #1 choice for auto insurance by providing competitive rates and products that meet drivers’ needs throughout their lifetimes, superior online and in-person customer service, and best-in-class, 24-hour claims service, including its concierge level of claims service available at service centers located in major metropolitan areas throughout the United States.
Progressive companies offer consumers choices in how to shop for, buy and manage their auto insurance policies. Progressive offers its products, including personal and commercial auto, motorcycle, boat and recreational vehicle insurance, through more than 30,000 independent insurance agencies throughout the U.S. and online and by phone directly from the Company. Private passenger auto products and prices are different when purchased directly from Progressive or through independent agencies. To find an agent or to get a quote, go to www.progressive.com
About ATERAS
ATERAS has supported global enterprises for 25 years offering value-driven legacy modernization solutions that enable companies to leverage their IT assets for increased business value and improved competitive advantage. Global enterprises benefit from a comprehensive suite of automated tools and services, from IT global assessments, impact analysis, COBOL workbenches, automated documentation to automated database and application migrations. Migration of mission critical applications and databases can be either mainframe to mainframe or mainframe to distributed platforms utilizing the .NET framework.
For more information on ATERAS’ solutions visit www.ateras.com.
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Fiserv Tops Ranking of Anti-money Laundering System
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NetEconomy, the global leader in financial crime management and compliance solutions and a business unit of Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), announced that IBS Publishing has ranked NetEconomy as the top-selling provider of global anti-money laundering (AML) solutions. IBS determined the ranking by analyzing the AML market for the number of new name wins achieved in 2007.
“NetEconomy has had an exceptional year, leading the way with 38 new customer wins in the United States and Western Europe, putting it ahead of the rest of the field,” said James Ling, sales league table editor of IBS.
IBS Publishing produces a number of publications and events around the world focusing on the back office banking systems and operations market, with independent, unbiased coverage. The results of IBS's new AML market survey demonstrate which systems and markets are most popular.
The industry’s top-selling solution in 2007, NetEconomy’s AML Compliance Manager, is a fully-integrated, easily-deployable and highly-effective anti-money laundering system. It uniquely combines transaction monitoring, list checking, risk scoring, case management and automated reporting, delivering the highest degree of accuracy and operational efficiency.
“Compliance is serious business for every financial institution. By offering unrivalled system flexibility, configurability and scalability we can better serve market demand from both the largest, most complex implementations, to single site implementations for smaller financial institutions,” said Sebastian Kuntz, chief executive officer of NetEconomy. “We are very pleased to be recognized by IBS, reinforcing our success and growth of the company over the last 18 months, as well as our leadership in the global anti-money laundering market. In addition, the ongoing expansion of our customer base means we have a vibrant community of users that will continue to drive the enhancements of our solutions to meet market needs.”
About NetEconomy
NetEconomy, based in The Hague, with offices around the globe, is the leading provider of financial crime management and compliance solutions. With more than 150 implementations across 60 countries, NetEconomy brings business value to its worldwide client base through its personalized customer approach for minimizing regulatory risk, delivering measurable results and protecting corporate brand and reputation. For more information, please visit www.neteconomy.com. For more information on NetPractice, visit www.netpractice.org.
About Fiserv, Inc.
Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a Fortune 500 company, provides information management and electronic commerce systems and services to the financial and insurance industries. Leading services include transaction processing, outsourcing, electronic bill payment and presentment, investment management solutions, business process outsourcing (BPO), software and systems solutions. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., the company is the leading provider of core processing solutions for U.S. banks, credit unions and thrifts. Fiserv was ranked the largest provider of information technology services to the financial services industry worldwide in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 FinTech 100 surveys. In 2007, the company completed the acquisition of CheckFree, a leading provider of electronic commerce services. Fiserv reported nearly $4 billion in total revenue from continuing operations for 2007. For more information, please visit www.fiserv.com.
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Volante Launches Streamer: Market Data Integration for Ultra Low-Latency Systems
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Supports trading and real-time analytics, high-speed message platforms and CEP, as well as real-time feed normalization
Volante Technologies, Inc., provider of accelerated data integration solutions to the financial industry, introduced its Streamer series of data integration modules for low-latency environments. Volante Streamer combines handlers for market data feeds with microsecond integration into internal applications and market data platforms. Streamer is being demonstrated today at the Accelerating Wall Street Conference in New York.
Volante offers Streamer modules for Reuters RMDS 6.0, OPRA, and Bloomberg B-Pipe feeds. Additional modules will be released in the future.
"When speed is the decisive factor in business success, Volante has always been the transformation technology of choice," said Vijay Oddiraju, CEO of Volante Technologies. "Now with the addition of feed-specific handlers, Volante Streamer meets the need for low-latency market data integration, as well as offering a low-cost, easily customizable, and high-speed alternative for vendor feed normalization and downstream integration."
With transformation speeds clocked in low single-digit microseconds, Volante Streamer radically reduces the delays and bottlenecks typically created by market data integration or normalization. It works in any business application environment, including direct market access, algorithmic trading, and aggregated order book applications, as well as market data platforms and complex event processing engines.
"The proliferation of dynamic, high-volume, time-sensitive data with broad distribution requirements is causing existing infrastructures to fail – disrupting business and erasing profits," said Bob Cramer, CEO, Tervela. "Instead of throwing more hardware at the problem, it makes more sense to change the way that data is processed. The transformative messaging technology of Tervela, supported by Volante’s low-latency, high-volume integration of market data feeds, provides the performance that capital markets institutions need today."
As with all Volante integration solutions, implementation is rapid, typically cutting project time by half or more. Spreadsheet-style interfaces incorporate pre-built definitions for all financial data standards and message formats such as FIX, FAST and XML. Volante automates all coding and documentation, as well as provides metadata for model-driven initiatives such as data governance and application integration.
About Volante
Since 2001, Volante Technologies has been accelerating data management for the financial services industry, while slashing development time and cost of ownership. Volante provides integration solutions for low-latency environments, service oriented architectures, vendor data consolidation, complex event processing, SWIFT message integration and other complex data challenges. Its metadata-based technology also enables enterprise data governance and model-driven data initiatives.
Volante solutions are employed by buy-side and sell-side institutions around the globe, as well as industry utilities, including Brown Brothers Harriman, The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, and Broadridge. For more information, visit www.volantetech.com.
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ProfitStars Provides Enterprise Exception Management Suite (eEMS) to Charles Schwab
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Risk Management Solution Helps Mitigate Inherent Risks Associated with Financial and Operational Data
Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (Nasdaq: JKHY), a leading provider of integrated technology solutions and data processing services for financial institutions, announced that the Enterprise Exception Management Suite (eEMS) provided by its ProfitStars division has been selected by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (Nasdaq: SCHW) to automate its reconciliation processes. Charles Schwab is one of the nation’s largest providers of financial services and offers a complete range of investment services and products.
eEMS is an enterprise risk management solution that is driven by a real-time rules engine that helps diverse financial services organizations proactively identify and mitigate the risks associated with financial and operational data. eEMS compiles data from disparate sources, automatically matches data elements, identifies exceptions, and loads each exception into a queue for resolution in a fully automated, secure environment. This innovative solution enables more effective and efficient data management through reconciliation, exception processing and business intelligence.
According to Jennifer O’Reilly, vice president, Operations Control for Charles Schwab “We believe an enterprise-wide exception management solution will better protect our clients, their assets, and our firm. After a lengthy due diligence process, the ProfitStars team clearly demonstrated that eEMS could replace disparate applications we developed internally over the years, automate manual processes, and be tailored to support our specific needs. We anticipate that automating our reconciliation processes with eEMS will ensure the integrity of our data, generate operational efficiencies, and seamlessly support our unique, evolving, and increasingly complex reconciliation requirements. We have developed a valuable partnership with ProfitStars and are excited about the positive impact that eEMS will have on our near- and long-term operations.”
David Foss, general manager of ProfitStars, said, “We consider the evaluation and selection of our enterprise exception management solution by a progressive, highly respected firm like Charles Schwab to be a solid endorsement of our system’s functionality and the tangible value it provides. We are excited about the addition of firms like Charles Schwab to our client roster, and believe we have significant opportunities to expand our market presence as increasing numbers of financial services organizations elect to implement automated solutions for mitigating and controlling the risks associated with their financial and operational data.”
About ProfitStars
ProfitStars, a division of Jack Henry & Associates, Inc., provides best-of-breed solutions that improve the performance of financial institutions of all asset sizes and charters, and diverse corporate entities. These solutions facilitate revenue and growth, risk mitigation and control, and cost control; and complement virtually any core information processing platform. Additional information is available at www.profitstars.com.
About Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.
Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (Nasdaq: JKHY) is a leading provider of computer systems and ATM/debit card/ACH transaction processing services primarily for financial services organizations. Its technology solutions serve more than 8,700 customers nationwide, and are marketed and supported through three primary brands. Jack Henry Banking™ supports banks ranging from de novo to mid-tier institutions with information and transaction processing solutions. Symitar™ is the leading provider of information and transaction processing solutions for credit unions of all sizes. ProfitStars provides highly specialized products and services that enable financial institutions of every asset size and charter, and diverse corporate entities to mitigate and control risks, optimize revenue and growth opportunities, and contain costs. Additional information is available at www.jackhenry.com.
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Fiserv’s FraudNet™ Prevents More than $287 Million in Fraud Losses Since Its Inception
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The CheckFree service blocks more than 21,000 attempted fraudulent bill payment transactions
for 462 financial institutions
Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading provider of information technology services to the financial and insurance industries, announced that the CheckFree FraudNet™ automated fraud detection and case management system has blocked more than 21,000 attempted fraudulent bill payment transactions totaling $287.9 million since the service went live in November 2005.
While the actual incidence of fraud for electronic payments is low, FraudNet provides a powerful solution for financial institutions to lower fraud rates even further. The FraudNet service is part of a suite of fraud prevention solutions offered by Fiserv that helps detect and mitigate fraud from log-in authentication to back-end payment processing, resulting in a lower cost of ownership in the online channel for financial institutions.
FraudNet provides automated fraud detection and prevention for 462 of the nation’s financial institutions. These customers have deployed FraudNet to help mitigate the risk of attempted fraudulent bill payment transactions for their institutions and their customers, while complying with Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) regulations.
FraudNet is a centralized fraud detection and integrated case management system that scores each online bill payment and halts the processing of suspicious transactions until they have been reviewed by fraud specialists. By detecting suspicious scenarios and examining behavioral patterns, Fiserv continually updates its business rules with real-time intelligence that identifies new types of fraudulent activity. Both consumer behaviors and merchant transaction activities are analyzed. The sophisticated FraudNet engine leverages advanced algorithms and proprietary negative file history, making it extremely accurate in detecting fraudulent transactions.
CheckFree FraudNet has resulted in savings for large financial institutions and community institutions alike. Using FraudNet, a top-10 financial institution proactively detected and stopped more than $7.4 million in electronic payment fraud in a single month, while a regional bank halted approximately $308,000 in attempted fraud during a four-month period.
Since its implementation in October 2007, FraudNet has helped PSCU Financial Services, the nation’s largest credit union service organization, minimize fraud. Monthly, PSCU Financial Services credit unions generate in excess of 2.8 million online bill payments. FraudNet has enabled PSCU Financial Services fraud representatives to halt $203,000 in attempted fraudulent online bill payments.
"CheckFree FraudNet is a powerful tool for our credit unions in the battle against attempted fraud," David Serlo, chief executive officer, PSCU Financial Services. "Since FraudNet detects and prevents fraudulent payments from being processed, this tool provides our credit unions with added peace of mind about the security of our PayLynx™ online bill payment service, which is also provided through CheckFree."
Designed to ensure that online transactions remain safer for consumers than paper-based transactions, CheckFree FraudNet was developed as a powerful solution for monitoring and stopping fraudulent transactions before they are processed. Due to stringent fraud management practices at financial institutions and increased consumer awareness, the actual instances of fraud involving online banking and electronic payment services have historically been low in comparison to other types of transactions. Still, one of the main barriers to online bill payment adoption remains concerns over online security, and FraudNet was designed to help alleviate those concerns.
"FraudNet’s strength lies in the ability to leverage advanced algorithms and a powerful network of financial institutions sharing negative file data," said Todd Lesher, executive vice president and general manager of CheckFree Electronic Banking Services, now part of Fiserv. "While attempted online bill payment fraud is minimal relative to other channels, FraudNet enables us to work closely with our financial institution customers to remain vigilant and protect this important channel as a safe and trusted place for consumers to use in conducting their financial transactions."
According to a study released in January 2008 by Javelin Strategy & Research, overall identity fraud declined by 12 percent in 2007. However, the average time to resolve new fraud cases increased 23 percent from 40 to 49 hours. By automating detection and prevention efforts for electronic payments, FraudNet helps reduce the time and resources required by financial institutions to manage potential fraud cases to as little as 15 minutes or $12.50 per case. This compares to the industry average of 49 hours or $2,450 per case, based on a total employee cost of $50 per hour. By accelerating financial institutions' ongoing fraud investigations, FraudNet can help financial institutions achieve a return on investment in the service in as little as one week, which lowers their overall total cost of ownership for the electronic payment service.
"Identity fraud is a complex, continually evolving crime that often involves multiple sources and methods. Businesses and consumers must fight back with robust fraud mitigation strategies across multiple channels," said Jim Van Dyke, president of Javelin Strategy & Research. "Financial institutions need to continue to develop and refine their fraud controls to combat the ever-changing fraud landscape, while providing consumers with the knowledge and tools to prevent detect and resolve fraud."
FraudNet enables customers to feel comfortable replacing traditional paper financial transactions with electronic versions. According to Javelin Strategy & Research identity fraud is more frequently committed using traditional methods – a lost or stolen wallet, access of account information from paper mail and trash, and via telephone – and more frequently perpetrated by people the victims know rather than by hackers who use malicious spyware, viruses and mallware to compromise user identifications and passwords and invade accounts.
Americans who monitor their financial accounts online detect fraud more quickly than those who rely on other methods, which is why the 2008 Javelin Strategy & Research identity fraud study recommends that consumers move financial transactions online. For educational tips on how to make the switch to electronic transactions, please access www.checkfree.com/idprotect.
Fiserv, Inc. and CheckFree are committed to educating consumers and businesses through the PayItGreen™ campaign about the environmental benefits of choosing electronic billing, statements, and payments instead of paper. Learn more at www.payitgreen.org.
About PSCU Financial Services
Based in St. Petersburg, Florida, PSCU Financial Services is the nation's largest credit union service organization (CUSO) and serves more than 1,100 financial institutions nationwide. As a non-profit cooperative, the company is owned by more than 500 member credit unions representing more than 11 million cardholder accounts and more than 580,000 online bill payment subscribers. Its Contact Center handles more than 14 million inquiries a year. PSCU Financial Services maintains an Eastern operations center in St. Petersburg, Florida, and a Western operations center based in Phoenix, Arizona. The cooperative’s wholly owned subsidiary, Digital Dialogue, operates two 24/7 call centers in Detroit, Mich., that specialize in member services, new member acquisition, cross-selling and automated lending solutions.
Established in 1977, the company provides a broad array of cost-effective, high quality financial services that include credit, debit, ATM, prepaid, bill payment and contact center solutions. PSCU Financial Services uniquely offers its members a full range of processing options, any combination from full service to in-house pass through processing for credit, debit and ATM transactions. As a leader in the credit union movement, the company offers gateway access to national and regional networks. It also provides full function ATM terminal driving services. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.pscufs.com.
About Fiserv, Inc.
Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a Fortune 500 company, provides information management and electronic commerce systems and services to the financial and insurance industries. Leading services include transaction processing, outsourcing, electronic bill payment and presentment, investment management solutions, business process outsourcing (BPO), software and systems solutions. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., the company is the leading provider of core processing solutions for U.S. banks, credit unions and thrifts. Fiserv was ranked the largest provider of information technology services to the financial services industry worldwide in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 FinTech 100 surveys. In 2007, the company completed the acquisition of CheckFree, a leading provider of electronic commerce services. Fiserv reported nearly $4 billion in total revenue from continuing operations for 2007. For more information, please visit www.fiserv.com.
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Fiserv Aperio Reaches Scalability Milestone
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Testing proves solution can support 10,000+ concurrent users with Microsoft SQL Server
Fiserv CBS Worldwide, a business unit of Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), has announced that it has exceeded its performance goal of 10,000 concurrent users with its Aperio customer interaction management solution. Jointly executed by Fiserv, Microsoft and Fiserv’s development partner Portrait Software, the testing involved multiple complex business processes emulating deployment for major institutions. The scalability testing shows Aperio can handle the demands of Tier one, two and three banks with diverse deployment requirements.
"We were very happy to exceed 10,000 concurrent users in our scalability testing with Microsoft SQL Server. This positions us to confidently provide our solution to the world’s largest financial institutions," said Andrew Steadman, director of channel strategy, Fiserv CBS Worldwide.
Fiserv Aperio is a next-generation customer interaction management solution for global financial institutions. Created using the Microsoft Application Platform, including Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition (64-bit) database software, Aperio integrates and automates business processes, tracks customer interactions across multiple channels and gives organizations the capability to proactively make decisions about how to proceed with their customers based on real time data. With growing demand for Aperio, which is now licensed in every region that Fiserv serves including North America, Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America, the company wanted to test its scalability for larger organizations.
Building upon the Microsoft Application Platform has helped Fiserv CBS to create a solution that can support even higher processing. "We’ve always been impressed by the scalability of SQL Server. We’ve consistently found that the SQL server provides a solid reliable platform that scales up very well. It is an excellent environment in which to work," said David Saunders, technical architect, Portrait Software, whose framework underlies the Fiserv Aperio solution.
Fiserv CBS partnered with Microsoft to ensure that Aperio was fully capable of providing capacity for large financial institutions while simultaneously offering a scalable solution for financial organizations that aspire to grow. For Microsoft, the initiative was a positive one.
"The results of this project demonstrate that systems based on Microsoft technology are scalable, reliable and secure enough to handle large volumes of data at the heart of a bank’s transaction processing environment, and that they serve mission-critical needs of our customers in the financial services industry," said Kim Saunders, senior director, Microsoft SQL Server Marketing.
About Fiserv CBS Woldwide
Fiserv CBS Worldwide is a unit of Fiserv Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a Fortune 500 company that serves more than 18,000 clients in 66 countries around the world. Fiserv CBS Worldwide delivers end-to-end business and technology solutions for retail financial organizations, consumer finance institutions and credit unions throughout Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada and the United States. Through its offices in the USA, UK, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Australia, China, Indonesia, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico, Fiserv CBS Worldwide enables financial institutions globally to deliver integrated solutions for managing the entire customer relationship from core banking to multi-channel customer contact and business intelligence. Fiserv CBS Worldwide can be found on the Internet at www.fiservcbs.com.
About Fiserv, Inc.
Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a Fortune 500 company, provides information management and electronic commerce systems and services to the financial and insurance industries. Leading services include transaction processing, outsourcing, electronic bill payment and presentment, investment management solutions, business process outsourcing (BPO), software and systems solutions. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., the company is the leading provider of core processing solutions for U.S. banks, credit unions and thrifts. Fiserv was ranked the largest provider of information technology services to the financial services industry worldwide in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 FinTech 100 surveys. In 2007, the company completed the acquisition of CheckFree, a leading provider of electronic commerce services. Fiserv reported nearly $4 billion in total revenue from continuing operations for 2007. For more information, please visit www.fiserv.com.
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Open Solutions Co-Hosts Health Savings Accounts Forum at The White House
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Open forum addresses government and market issues on the horizon
Open Solutions Inc.®, a provider of integrated enabling technologies for financial services providers across the United States, Canada and other international markets, recently joined N.J.-based Information Strategies Inc., a media and marketing company, to co-host an event on Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) at The White House Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C. on April 15.
More than 80 senior executives from major HSA custodial institutions, community banks and credit unions representing more than 95 percent of all U.S. HSA account holders attended the event to learn more on the political impact of HSAs. Open Solutions offers major trustees, insurance carriers, third-party administrators (TPAs) to insurance carriers and other eligible financial institutions a comprehensive, outsourced processing solution for HSAs.
During the forum, senior policy makers and financial industry leaders addressed the administration's continued focus on accelerating the growth of HSAs, the vulnerability of HSAs in the current political environment and their potential future. Clients and prospects heard from several political figures including | | |