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Equifax today announced that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Goldleaf Technologies, Inc., of Hahira, GA, one of the nation's largest providers of electronic banking software to independent financial institutions. Equifax Card Solutions currently offers software for card issuing, merchant processing and collections processing. This acquisition will add yet another dimension to Equifax's offering of total solutions to the financial services industry.
Goldleaf offers five electronic banking solutions, known collectively as the CustomerLink family of products, including Telephone Banking, ACH Origination, Cash Management, Home Banking and Internet Banking, to independent financial institutions. With the acquisition, Equifax will continue enhancement of these banking solutions using Microsoft Windows NT technology and SQL, a powerful, relational database language that simplifies and improves the interchange of information between databases.
Lee A. Kennedy, Equifax executive vice president and group executive, said, "Equifax is strongly committed to developing and enhancing value-added products and services for its 5,500 bank and credit union customers. The addition of Goldleaf Technologies' state-of-the-art electronic banking software provides Equifax's customers with an even greater competitive edge."
David Peterson, president and CEO of Goldleaf, who will continue in that position, said, "This is a win-win situation for all. Equifax will increase its product offerings to its independent financial institution customers while Goldleaf will be able to speed up research and development of new products for electronic banking. Everyone of us at Goldleaf looks forward to being a part of the highly professional Equifax team ."
Goldleaf will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Equifax Inc. Financial terms of the transaction, which is due to close later this month, were not disclosed.
Equifax is a global leader in providing information, processing, consulting and software solutions that facilitate and enhance buyer-seller transactions worldwide. The company serves businesses in the banking, finance, retail, credit card, telecommunications/utilities and health care administration industries. Equifax is changing the shape of global commerce through growth and innovation, driven by technology and people. It operates globally in 17 countries, with sales in 40 countries. Founded in 1899 in Atlanta, Equifax (NYSE: EFX) today has 10,000 employees around the world. Revenues for the 12 months ended September 30, 1997, exceeded $1.3 billion. Visit the company's Internet web site at http://www.equifax.com.
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