Founded 1996 | ||
BankServ, a financial services company headquartered in Enterprise, Nevada, develops electronic banking software and operates outsourced data processing centers used by banks and other businesses to move money electronically. Founded in 1996, it does business with over 400 banks in more than 50 countries, primarily supplying banks with the behind-the-scenes programs used for remote deposit, Internet bill payment, mobile payments, wire transfer payments and sending messages over the international SWIFT network. The company operates offices in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Houston and London.
History
BankServ was founded by a group of investors led by current CEO David Kvederis, a former senior vice president of Wells Fargo Bank. Kvederis is widely known in the financial industry for helping introduce Direct Deposit during his tenure as chairman of the National Automated Clearing House Association (now NACHA-The Electronic Payments Association) during the 1980s. He was also hired by the U.S. government in 1993 to assist with the transition from a communist to a capitalist financial system in the former Soviet republic of Lithuania.
Originally incorporated under the name Nova Payments, the company now known as BankServ started with the idea of selling check scanners to grocery stores, allowing them to deposit their checks without going to the bank. But in the late 1990s, BankServ’s wire transfer business (acquired from Ictus Inc) became its main revenue source, and the idea of grocery store check conversion was abandoned. However, when the United States Congress passed the Check 21 Act in 2003, the legal requirements surrounding remote deposit became less strict, and the company decided to re-enter the business with a flagship product named DepositNow!
Since 2004, BankServ has expanded into the fields of consumer remote deposit, electronic bill payment and credit card processing, and added an international division with the acquisition of the London-based Symtec Corporation. BankServ has received a number of awards, including nominations to Inc. Magazine's Inc. 500 list in 2003 and 2004, a list of the fastest-growing privately held corporations in the United States. Most recently, BankServ was nominated to the Inc. 5,000 Fastest Growing Private Companies list every year from 2003-2010.1
In May 2009, BankServ acquired the assets of Commerciant LP, a Houston-based technology company involved in wireless credit card processing. The company now offers a handheld terminal that can process credit card transactions on the spot over various mobile phone networks.
In 2010, BankServ acquired NetDeposit, one of its main rivals in the remote deposit field, from Zions Bancorporation in a primarily cash transaction. As a result of the acquisition, BankServ's check processing operations nearly doubled in size, and added new branch capture and mobile phone check deposit software. The company estimates that it now processes remote deposit transactions for more than 100,000 business customers in the United States.
In August 2011, private equity firm GTCR acquired the controlling interest in BankServ, poising the company for expansion and growth. GTCR's portfolio of more than 25 companies includes fast-growing firms in the financial services and technology, healthcare and information services and technology fields. GTCR subsequently announced its intention to merge BankServ with the Israeli payments firm Fundtech Ltd., a transaction that was completed in November 2011. The combined company will be known as Fundtech and headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Altogether, BankServ estimates that it handles money either directly or indirectly for about one million people and businesses a day.