First Data to Acquire Online Banking and Bill Pay Company FundsXpress

First Data Corp., a global leader in electronic commerce and payments, announced plans to acquire FundsXpress, a premier provider of online banking and bill payment services for consumers and small businesses. FundsXpress has more than 500 financial institution customers, consisting primarily of community financial institutions, and First Data currently serves thousands of similar institutions coast-to-coast. The complementary capabilities of First Data and FundsXpress will result in a broad and robust suite of products for secure electronic commerce and Internet Banking transactions.

"Online banking and bill payment comprise a fast growing and strategically important market for financial institutions," said Todd Strubbe, president of First Data Debit Services. "FundsXpress has demonstrated success in an extremely competitive market, and with their superior products as part of First Data’s portfolio, our clients will have the opportunity to maximize operating efficiencies and profitability across multiple distribution channels. This also presents a natural cross-sell opportunity for our large base of community financial institutions."

"As part of First Data, we’ll have the ability to add significant value for our customers through the integration with First Data’s extensive suite of products and services. We’ll further improve and extend our online banking offering through First Data’s expertise in enabling virtually every type of electronic transaction anywhere in the world, any time — reliably and securely," said Brent Warrington, president and chief executive officer of FundsXpress. "The combination of our two companies escalates our strategic position as being the company that will redefine the way secure online transactions are conducted."

FundsXpress was advised on the transaction by the investment banking firm of Lane, Berry & Co. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.