01 Oct Metavante chosen for Community Bank Products' prepaid processing
Milwaukee, Wis. – Metavante Technologies, a leading provider of banking and payments technology, and Community Bank Products (CBP) today announced the completion of CBP’s conversion to Metavante Corporation’s prepaid card processing services. Community Bank Products, a division of Tennessee-based FirstBank, supports network-branded prepaid card programs for more than 1,000 reseller community bank branches across the United States.
Now directly aligned with Metavante for prepaid card processing, Community Bank Products has full access to Metavante’s prepaid development team — enhancing its speed to market for new prepaid program development and enhancements. Taking advantage of this aspect of its direct relationship with Metavante, Community Bank Products is preparing to roll out two new prepaid products next year: payroll cards and general purpose re-loadable cards.
Both cards feature the Visa brand and complement the traditional Visa gift cards and Visa TravelMoney cards presently available from Community Bank Products. Pointing to the popularity of the gift and prepaid travel cards, Community Bank Products reports 30 percent year-over-year aggregate growth for the two products across its entire base of community bank resellers.
“Community Bank Products’ conversion to Metavante prepaid is complete. A direct relationship with Metavante has improved the way we do business, and being able to charge ahead with new products in an evolving market like prepaid is a prime example of the improvement,” said Barbara Hvasta, vice president and general manager, Community Bank Products. “Community Bank Products sprang from a community bank, FirstBank. We’re experts in the community bank space. Community Bank Products is an alternative for community banks that don’t want to partner upstream in order to offer their customers prepaid products.”
“With Metavante, virtually nothing changed for Community Bank Products and its resellers. The cards already distributed are still valid. The reseller banks can continue selling existing cards. They use the same logon screens, the same IDs, the same basic procedures,” said John Focht, division president, Metavante Issuing Solutions. “Minimizing impact on the reseller banks supported by Community Bank Products — that’s what Metavante’s conversion expertise and relationship team delivered throughout the process.”
As part of the agreement, Metavante will provide Community Bank Products with a variety of services including: prepaid card processing, card production and delivery, and account management on Metavante’s prepaid platform. Additionally, Metavante will supply call center/automated voice response services, as well as fraud prevention solutions.
Metavante Payment Solutions delivers electronic money movement through an integrated payments network, including an ATM/PIN-debit network in NYCE, mobile banking and payments, online bill pay, healthcare payment solutions, a suite of payment cards and automated clearing house (ACH) processing. Metavante can help clients grow revenue by capitalizing on the expanding electronic payments markets, including financial, healthcare and government payments. Metavante offers clients the efficient and integrated resources necessary to offer their customers a broad range of payment options and touch points.
About Metavante
Metavante Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:MV) is the parent company of Metavante Corporation. Metavante Corporation delivers banking and payments technologies to over 8,000 financial services firms and businesses worldwide. Metavante products and services drive account processing for deposit, loan and trust systems, image-based and conventional check processing, electronic funds transfer (EFT), consumer healthcare payments, electronic presentment and payment, business transformation services, and payment network solutions including the NYCE Network, a leading ATM/PIN debit network. Metavante is headquartered in Milwaukee.
About FirstBank
FirstBank is Tennessee’s largest independently owned and operated bank, with locations across the state. The bank, headquartered in Lexington, Tenn., services every major metropolitan market in the state and, with nearly $2 billion in total assets, has the resources to provide a comprehensive variety of financial services and products. FirstBank has been recognized as one of Tennessee’s best employers by Business Tennessee magazine, the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Tennessee Society for Human Resource Management.
FirstBank follows a community-banking model adopted by its charter, Farmers State Bank, more than 100 years ago in Scotts Hill, Tenn. As Tennessee’s premier community bank, FirstBank is committed to its role as a leader in the communities it serves. That commitment is reflected by the Ayers Foundation Scholars program, a scholarship fund established by FirstBank Chairman Jim Ayers to advance higher education for young people in Tennessee. To learn more about FirstBank, a wholly owned subsidiary of First South Bancorp, Inc., visit www.firstbankonline.com.
About Community Bank Products
Community Bank Products (CBP) is a division of FirstBank, a community bank since 1906. In 2005, FirstBank established CBP in an effort to assist community banks in the development and marketing of stored value cards. This included offering the Visa-branded, branch issue gift cards in FirstBank branches. The focus of CBP is to select products that can be developed and resold to community banks as a means of helping their business and relationships in the community grow. CBP currently supports more than 1,000 community bank branches throughout the country.