Online Resources Gets Princeton eCom Boost, Points to New Products

Bill-payment processor Online Resources Corp. on Thursday reported sharply higher third quarter numbers for transactions, clients, and users as the Chantilly, Va.-based company for the first time included results from rival processor Princeton eCom Corp. Online Resources, which acquired Princeton eCom for $180 million this summer, also said its integration of the Princeton, N.J.-based company's operations, while somewhat slower than it expected, is generally moving ahead without a major hitch. And the company announced it had hired a new top executive for its e-commerce division, which includes the Princeton eCom business. “It's been as active a quarter as I can ever recall,” Matthew P. Lawlor, chairman and chief executive at Online Resources, told analysts attending a teleconference on the company's quarterly results. He hinted, however, that the coming months will be no less active as he referred to approaching new-product launches. “We have no less than four major product announcements planned for the next three months,” he said, without giving details. One of these announcements, however, will detail a new expedited-payment service that will include real-time electronic updates of consumers' accounts with billers. This service, facilitated by the acquisition of Princeton eCom and its 1,600 biller endpoints, was first outlined in July by Lawlor, who slated it for introduction in the first quarter (Digital Transactions News, July 27). With Princeton eCom's numbers now included, the company reported 8.36 million users, up from 3.41 million in the second quarter and from 2.75 million in the year-ago period. Overall bill-payment transactions ballooned to 42.5 million from 11.6 million a year ago and 14.2 million in the quarter ended June 30. And clients, which include both financial institutions and biller service providers, now stand at 2,662, up from 806 a year earlier and 886 in the second quarter. Total biller relationships stand at 2,260, including 2,016 direct biller endpoints as well as 244 service providers. Some unexpected technical impediments have slowed the Princeton eCom integration somewhat. “There are always speed bumps in the road and we had to slow down for a few,” Raymond T. Crosier, president and chief operating officer for Online Resources, told analysts. One such factor, Crosier said, has been that some biller clients have moved more slowly than expected on their end of the integration. “We feel we were over-aggressive in forecasting development timelines,” he said, though Lawlor added that “there have been no surprises of a material nature” in the integration process so far. Lawlor said the company has moved to fill an important post with the appointment of Bob Craig as executive vice president and general manager of the e-commerce division. Formerly with Remitco LLC, a First Data Corp. company, Craig will take up his duties Nov. 1, replacing former Princeton eCom chief executive Ronald W. Averett, who left the combined company in August. Online Resources has also apparently made progress in reassuring Princeton eCom clients about the acquisition. “The Princeton clients didn't know what to expect at first, particularly on the biller side, where we had no reputation to speak of because we've been focusing on the banks,” Lawlor said. “There was some nervousness there, but that has moved down one big notch.” In related news, Norcross, Ga.-based CheckFree Corp., a major competitor, said this week it processed 311.7 million transactions in the third quarter, up 3% over the second quarter and 17% from the year-ago period.