Carreker
Corporation Press Release - September
25, 2003
WELLS FARGO TAPS CARREKER TO
DEVELOP IMAGE EXCHANGE SOFTWARE
ExchgLink™ Being Built
on Carreker’s ECP Solution
CheckLink®, Already
Used by
20 Large Banks for Data Exchange
DALLAS, TX (September 25, 2003) — Carreker
Corporation (Nasdaq: CANI), a leading
provider of technology and consulting
solutions for the financial industry,
announced that Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC) will partner with Carreker
to develop ExchgLink™ software
for sending and receiving check
images, which Carreker will then
market to financial institutions
and archive providers.
The software is designed to ultimately
enable banks to truncate checks
entirely, exchanging only images.
This will significantly reduce
banks’ operations and transportation
costs, their need for physical
operations centers, and their exposure
to payments fraud. At the same
time, image exchange will enable
banks to develop and offer new
products that meet consumer and
commercial customer demand for
payment information.
ExchgLink™ will support
image exchanges for shared archives
and in-house archives through each
anticipated stage on the payments
evolution path to image-only exchange.
It will accommodate pre-Check 21
conditions (that is, before the
enactment of pending legislation
that provides for image replacement
documents) as well as conditions
after the legislation takes effect.
Mitch Christensen, executive vice
president, Payment Strategies,
Wells Fargo, said, “With
Check 21 legislation on the horizon
and the image-enabled back office
closer to reality, Wells Fargo
is primed to carry out our long-held
commitment to image exchange. Before
we get to the point of 100% image
exchange, we must be able to support
all the transition phases in between.
We wanted a development partner
who understands every step in that
migration path and has been pioneering
along that path for years. We and
many of our prospective image exchange
partners already use Carreker’s
ECP, capture, archive, fraud detection,
and image-enabled back office solutions.
That is why we chose them for this
critical development effort.”
ExchgLink™ is designed to
be a comprehensive solution that
maximizes the cost savings and
productivity benefits potential
of the image-enabled environment
that Check 21 will precipitate.
Besides the basic functions of
image send and receive, it will
also support item-level reconciliation;
image quality assurance (by interfacing
seamlessly with Carreker’s
Image Inspector™ software);
and back office functions (by interfacing
with Carreker’s suite of
image-enabled back office systems – Inbound
Returns Express™, Adjustments
Express™, and Exceptions
Express™).
ExchgLink™ will meet the
systems requirements defined by
a coalition of leading payment
processing banks under the auspices
of SVPCo, the bank-owned private
sector payment system. Wells Fargo,
a member of this coalition and
its lead systems architect, has
worked with Carreker to establish
requirements for the new software
that leverage Carreker’s
CheckLink® software for electronic
check presentment (ECP). CheckLink® is
already used by twenty large banks,
which account for the majority
of the ECP volume in the U.S. By
integrating ExchgLink™ with
CheckLink®, banks can leverage
critical exchange processes already
implemented and proven for ECP.
Carreker and Wells expect to test
ExchgLink™ in fourth quarter
2003 and to be in production in
early 2004. Other banks involved
in defining the systems requirements
with SVPCo are expected to pilot
the system with interbank exchanges
in 2004. Carreker expects to begin
recognizing revenue from ExchgLink™ in
mid-2004.
John Carreker, president of Carreker’s
Global Payments Technologies, said, “We
recognize the significant responsibility
of Wells’ having chosen us
for this exciting breakthrough
technology – the first true
exchange of images. Their decision
essentially validates our development
strategy, which is to leverage
the banking industry’s existing
and proven capabilities and infrastructure
for ECP data exchange in order
to facilitate image exchange. Because
of Wells Fargo’s experience
with CheckLink®’s processes
for data exchange, settlement,
reconcilement, returns, and item
matching, the move to image exchange
will evolve along a proven and
familiar path.”
J. D. (Denny) Carreker, chairman
and CEO of Carreker Corporation,
said, “As the company with
the largest footprint in image
technology for banks, we understand
the importance of this critical
stage of image migration. Thanks
to Wells Fargo’s continued
confidence in our capabilities,
we can protect our clients’ legacy
investments in payments processing
even while we guide them toward
full image-enablement that helps
them retain and expand their payments
business.”
Check 21 (also known as the Check
Truncation Act of 2003) facilitates
the exchange of images instead
of paper checks by permitting banks
to truncate checks and substitute
image replacement documents. It
will drive considerable change
as banks adapt their processes,
platforms, and technology to accommodate
an increasingly imaged-based environment.
Approximately 50 percent of U.S.
check processing volume is currently
being imaged and committed to image
archives, and that rate is expected
to increase to 90 percent within
a few years, according to a survey
by Global Concepts Inc. Approximately
60 percent of check images archived
by the top 50 banks in North America
are stored by Carreker applications
(when fully implemented), either
at individual banks or in shared
archives. Carreker offers the only
image-enabled back office suite
(for exceptions, adjustments, and
return items, with a research offering
in the works) and a number of image-enabled
fraud mitigation applications.
Carreker recently announced the
first application in its image
quality assurance suite.
Carreker’s consulting division
is conducting a comprehensive Check
21 Readiness Assessment Program
for client banks, beginning with
a workshop customized and delivered
on site at the bank.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo is a $370 billion diversified
financial services company providing
banking, insurance, investments,
mortgage and consumer finance
through more than 5,800 stores,
the internet (www.wellsfargo.com)
and other distribution channels
across North America and elsewhere
internationally.
About Carreker Corporation
Carreker Corporation improves earnings
for financial institutions around
the world. The Company’s
integrated consulting and software
solutions are designed to increase
clients’ revenues and reduce
their expenses, while improving
security and increasing the value
of their customer relationships.
Carreker provides products and
services to more than 250 clients
in the United States, Canada,
the United Kingdom, Ireland,
continental Europe, Australia,
New Zealand, and South Africa.
Clients include the full range
of community, regional and large
banks, among them more than 75
of the largest 100 banks in the
United States. Headquartered
in Dallas, Texas since 1978,
Carreker Corporation also has
offices located around the world
including London, Toronto, and
Sydney. For more information,
visit www.carreker.com.
Forward Looking
Statement — Except
for historical information, the
statements in this release are
forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the federal securities
laws. These statements are subject
to numerous risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results
to differ materially, including
but not limited to successful
implementation of the software,
litigation related to the Company’s
restatement of its financials,
as well as the risks and uncertainties
arising out of economic, competitive,
governmental and technological
factors affecting the Company’s
operations, markets, services,
products and prices. For further
information concerning certain
of these risks and uncertainties,
see under the caption “Business – Risk
Factors” in the Company’s
most recent Form 10-K for the
year ended January 31, 2003.
We assume no obligation to update
or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result
of new information, future events
or otherwise, except as may be
required by law.
Carreker Corporate Contact:
Ann Cain, Senior Vice President,
Director, Strategic Communications and PR
972 371-1748 PH (Dallas)
972 458-2567 FX
Email: acain@carreker.com
Wells Fargo Contact:
Lucy Browne, Vice President
WFSC Communications
916-787-3819
+44 (0) 20 7283 5806 fax
Email: brownel@wellsfargo.com
