NEWS

Retriever Secures $250 Million

Houston, Texas-based merchant acquirer Retriever Payment Systems has received recapitalization funds worth $250 million from GTCR Golder Rauner, LLC, a leading private equity firm.

The deal will enable the company to expand its growth strategy. Partners in the investment also include Merrill Lynch Capital and American Capital, which provided $26 million in debt financing for the transaction.

Small Biz Hiring Up, Salaries Down

Small businesses are growing bigger but paychecks are growing smaller, according to payroll provider SurePayroll. SurePayroll aggregates data for more than 12,000 customers and provides information on small business employment, earnings and subcontractor trends in its SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard. The Scorecard reported that business is increasing for small businesses but it remains a buyer's market for new employees.

The Scorecard found that compared to last year, the average payroll check decreased by 1.7% from the second quarter of 2003 to the second quarter of 2004. However, small businesses continued to increase employee headcount.

The average number of 1099 contractors used by small businesses increased 13.3% while the average number of W-2 employees grew 1.82%. For more information visit http://www.surepayroll.com/scorecard/ .

TSYS Selected by J.P. Morgan Chase

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. selected TSYS to provide credit card processing for its card services business. TSYS will provide all card processing functions, such as maintaining account transaction information and providing transaction authorizations. In the future, Chase will have the option to transfer card processing services in-house under a license of the TS2 software.

Gift Cards Choice for Corporate Incentives

Gift cards are becoming a preferred choice for corporations looking to motivate, retain and reward employees and customers, according to a study commissioned by ValueLink, the gift and spending card service of First Data Corp. In the study of the incentive market within American businesses, 40% of decision makers reported using gift cards or certificates as incentive items within the past year. Only cash was used more frequently.

The research indicates that incentives are used across industries, for companies of all sizes, and for both employees and customers alike. Six out of 10 businesses that used incentives are in the service and manufacturing sectors and more than three-quarters of those companies have less than 500 employees.

The most prevalent incentive programs are designed to motivate and reward employees and the majority of gift cards given out as incentives (55%) are valued at less than $50.

JR's POS Depot Purchases 20,000 Square Foot Facility

JR's POS Depot has finalized the purchase of a 20,000 square foot facility located in Sunrise, Fla., seven blocks from the former location. The new facility will house the entire operation, including the addition of a new division which will focus on development of a 24-hour help desk operation expected to be fully operational by September.

PARTNERSHIPS

Checkmate Selects Q Comm's Qxpress 200

Checkmate, provider of check cashing and payday loan services, has installed Q Comm's Qxpress terminals in their 80 retail locations in seven states through an agreement with Universal Prepaid Solutions. Checkmate serves over two million customers and is continuing to expand throughout the western United States.

The Clearing House, SVPCo, Affiliated Businesses Join Forces

The Clearing House, Small Value Payments Company (SVPCo) and affiliated payments businesses have merged into a single payments company with a unified governing board. This reorganization involves companies representing the entire spectrum of clearing and settling payments. Companies involved include The Clearing House, SVPCo, Clearing House Interbank Payments System, Electronic Payments Network, Electronic Clearing Services, and National Check Exchange.

The streamlined business model was created over 18 months with involvement of senior leaders from a number of the owner banks. The transition to the new structure is expected to take place over the next year, with no change to daily operations, management, business plans or marketing.

Fleet One Allies with Spinx

Fleet One, LLC has formed a business relationship with South Carolina-based convenience store operator The Spinx Company, Inc. Fleet One will administer a private label fuel card program for Spinx fleet customers.

Any business in the Carolina region with a fleet of cars, vans or small trucks can use The Spinx Fleet Card to purchase fuel at participating Spinx locations. The partnership also provides Fleet One cardholders with additional fueling sites; Fleet One Local fuel cards will now be accepted at these Spinx locations.

Roto-Rooter Endorses Global Payments

The Roto-Rooter Franchisee Association has chosen electronic payment solutions provider Global Payments, Inc., as the endorsed provider for its franchisees' payment card and check processing services.

The terms of the agreement permit Global Payments to provide comprehensive payment services for Roto-Rooter franchisees including authorization, data capture and settlement, along with electronic check authorization and guarantee.

Roto-Rooter operates businesses in more than 100 company-owned territories and more than 500 franchise territories, serving approximately 90% of the U.S. population.

VeriFone, Inc. Selected by Athens Bank

Alpha Bank, the Official Bank of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games, has ordered 1,300 VeriFone Omni 3750 terminals. The terminals will be delivered during the summer of 2004, when more than one million people are expected to visit the city.

This latest contract brings the total number of VeriFone terminals used by Alpha Bank, the second largest bank in Greece, to more than 16,000.

ACQUISTIONS

First National Bank to Acquire Two Florida Banks

Financial services company First National Bankshares of Florida, Inc., will acquire First Bradenton Bank of Bradenton, Fla. and Southern Community Bancorp of Orlando, Fla. The Southern Community Bancorp transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2004 while the First Bradenton Bank acquisition is anticipated to occur during the fourth quarter. Once the mergers are complete, First National Bankshares will have $5.1 billion in total assets, $3.9 billion in total deposits and 76 financial centers located throughout South and Central Florida.

Independent Bank Corporation Acquires North Bancorp

Independent Bank Corporation, a Michigan-based bank holding company, has closed its acquisition of North Bancorp, Inc., of Gaylord, Mich. The holding company now has total assets of approximately $2.8 billion and operates 107 offices in Michigan.

National City Completes Acquisition of Provident

National City Corporation has acquired Provident Financial Group, Inc. Following conversion of business systems, Provident Bank will be merged into National City Bank. The acquisition adds 65 branches in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky to National City's network of 1,146 retail offices located throughout the Midwest. The transaction is valued at $2.1 billion. T. Michael Price will serve as CEO and Michael P. McCuen will serve as President for the Cincinnati region.

National City is also preparing to acquire Wayne Bancorp, a bank holding company headquartered in Wooster, Ohio. Wayne Bancorp operates 26 branches and has $825 million in assets. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2004.

In related events, National City sold its 83% share of National Processing Co. (NPC) to Bank of America for $1.4 billion (see story, page 50).

Premier Sells Citizens Bank

Premier Financial Bancorp, Inc., a West-Virginia-based bank holding company, completed the sale of its affiliate Citizens Bank (Ky.), Inc. to Farmers Capital Bank Corp., headquartered in Frankfort, Ky. The transaction will reduce the company's total assets by approximately $66 million while increasing total capital by approximately $4.5 million.

Sky Purchases Second Bancorp

Sky Financial Group, Inc. has acquired Second Bancorp Inc. of Warren, Ohio and its wholly owned subsidiaries. Second National Bank will be consolidated into Sky Financial Group's subsidiary, Sky Bank. The acquisition, valued at $296 million, increases Sky's asset size to $14.2 billion. Sky Bank now has more than 285 financial centers and more than 300 ATMs serving communities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana and West Virginia.

APPOINTMENTS

Buglioli Joins Carreker's Global Payments Division

Lou Buglioli has joined Carreker Corp., a provider of technology and consulting solutions for the financial industry. Buglioli will be working with the company's Global Payments Consulting division, advising Carreker clients on payments strategy, operations and technology infrastructure and implementation. Buglioli has 34 years of financial services and consultancy experience and was most recently head of Perot Systems' Financial Services Industry Group. Previously he was a general partner, President, and COO of Benton Intl., a payment and retail banking consultancy acquired by Perot Systems in 1997. Buglioli also held senior management positions with Citibank and Crocker Bank.

PayQuik Names Corl President

PayQuik, a provider of money transfer solutions to banks, credit unions and money transfer organizations, has appointed C. Richard Corl to the position of President. Corl has more than 25 years of electronic payments industry experience and is currently the Managing Director of ePay Capital Partners. Corl was the co-founder of Princeton eCom and a co-founder of the TeleCheck network. Corl currently sits on the PayQuick Board of Directors and on Devon Trading's Advisory Board. He has also served on the board of directors at Ecount and Princeton eCom.

Fifth Third Appoints Drucker President

Charles Drucker, former EVP and COO of STAR Debit Services, has been named President of Fifth Third Processing Solutions. Drucker will be responsible for strategy, sales, product development, relationship management and administration for Fifth Third Processing Solutions' Merchant Services, Financial Institutions and Card Products businesses. Drucker has served as COO of STAR Debit Services, as well as President and CEO of TeleCheck. In addition, Drucker served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Commercial Services for Wells Fargo & Co., and served on MasterCard Acquirer's Committee and Visa Acquirer's Council.

MPI Names Schwartz VP National Sales, Levigne Operations Director

Merchant Processing Incorporated (MPI) has named Jeff Schwartz as their Vice President of National Sales. Schwartz has more than 14 years of merchant processing sales experience with EVO, CPS, EFS National Bank and NOVA Information Systems. The company has also hired Kevin Lavigne as their Operations Director. Lavigne has more than eight years of merchant processing operations experience with PaySystems, CMS and Surefire Commerce. Most recently, he held the position of Vice President of Operations and Risk for PaySystems.

Priore Joins Ingenico as EVP

John V. Priore has joined the executive management team of Ingenico North America. As EVP of Financial Systems, Priore will be responsible for sales and service of Ingenico products to the merchant bankcard industry in the United States. Priore comes to Ingenico with more than a decade's experience in the merchant acquiring industry. Before joining Ingenico, he most recently served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Indirect Sales and Business Development at NOVA Information Systems. Before joining NOVA in 1999 as VP and General Manager of MSP Development, Priore was a Divisional VP with Cardservice International.

Shipowitz Named ACE Cash Express CEO

ACE Cash Express, Inc., retailer of financial services including check cashing and short-term consumer loan and bill payment services, has named Jay B. Shipowitz to be its CEO. Since 2000 Shipowitz has been President and COO, as well as Director of the company and he will continue to serve the company in those capacities. He is succeeding Donald H. Neustadt, who will continue to serve on ACE's Board of Directors.

VeriFone Appoints Zwarenstein Senior VP and CFO

Barry Zwarenstein has been appointed Senior Vice President and CFO of VeriFone, Inc. Zwarenstein will be responsible for finance, investor relations, legal, human resources and IT functions. Zwarenstein started his career at FMC Corporation, where he held a variety of global financial positions, including, CFO for FMC Europe in Brussels. Subsequently, Zwarenstein has been the CFO of Logitech S.A., Acuson Corporation and, most recently, Iomega Corp.

Bottom Lines

• The United States Commerce Department reported that retail sales declined 1.1% in June. This is the largest decline since February 2003. Rising fuel costs may be to blame for the slide.
• Kirkland's, Inc. and GE Consumer Finance have entered into an agreement to launch a private-label credit card program. The new card will be offered at 282 Kirkland's stores in 36 states. Customers will receive a $10 certificate for each $150 charged to the card.
• Domino's Pizza, Inc. began trading common stock on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Tuesday, July 13, 2004 under the symbol "DPZ." The initial public offering price for was $14.00 per share.
• The Federal Reserve Bank Board has approved an application by Capital One Financial to become a bank holding company. The company will begin restructuring some operations to conform to bank holding company regulations.