Brian -
Initial response to the AFFI IPO was positive. Sales have been slow
to develop and cash on hand is being depleted rapidly. Accordingly
the price has droped.
Here is an old article re AFFI :
State-of-the-Art Affinity Technology to Deliver Added Convenience And Quicker Loan
Decisions To Dime Customers
COLUMBIA, SC - March 26, 1997 - Affinity Technology Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFFI) today
announced an agreement to deploy Affinity's automated decisioning technology, Decisys/RTSM,
across The Dime Savings Bank Of New York's consumer lending platform. The Dime will also
install Affinity Automated Loan Machines (ALMr) in a continuing commitment to bring expanded
service capabilities and convenience to its customers.
The Affinity technology will provide nationwide support for decisioning and fulfillment to all of The
Dime's branches, telemarketing call centers, the risk management group, and remote closing sites,
and will apply across its consumer loan product line including home equity, auto loans, and
unsecured installment loans and lines of credit.
The Dime plans to install Affinity's technology in a multi-phased approach over the next several
months. This agreement with Affinity is only a portion of a much larger technology initiative to
develop an integrated sales and service delivery system for all of The Dime's consumer products.
Jeff A. Norris, President and Chief Executive Officer of Affinity, stated, "Affinity's technologies will
reduce the time traditionally associated with obtaining consumer and home equity loans for Dime's
customers, while ensuring that all loan applications are decisioned with consistent parameters no
matter where they are originated. As a result of our work with The Dime -- a high-performance
mortgage banking and consumer financial services company -- in its move to virtual banking,
hundreds of thousands of consumers will benefit from the convenience and immediacy enabled by
Affinity technologies."
Peyton Patterson, Executive Vice President of The Dime, said, "Our goal is to optimize the
borrowing process for our customers. Affinity's state-of-the-art technology will enable us to
streamline the decision-making and funding process on our full range of consumer loan products,
regardless of the channel in which they originated."
Dime, at December 31, 1996, had $18.9 billion of assets and $12.9 billion of deposits. The Bank
operates 85 retail banking branches in the greater New York metropolitan area, and originates
loans in selected markets throughout the United States.
Affinity will integrate its technology into Dime's existing software in three phases:
First, Affinity will assist in the development of a credit decisioning system to support the
work of a central credit staff linked to all Dime branches and call centers. The technology
will ultimately serve as the hub for the decision-making process - providing decisioning,
tracking loans through referral to risk managers, and implementing fraud verification and
authentication before communicating the decision to the originating branch or call center.
Second, Affinity will implement remote fulfillment of loans not only at branch locations but at
ALMs, regardless of where the loan application originated.
Third, Affinity will implement electronic cross-selling of loan and banking products based on
customer profiles built into the system.
The three phases are anticipated to be completed over the next several months. In addition to the
installation of Affinity decisioning technologies, the agreement will include the provision of ongoing
consulting services by Affinity.
Affinity's proprietary Decisys/RTSM technology is a real-time, closed loop decision support system
designed to bridge the gap between financial institutions and consumers by automating the
processing and closing of credit, deposit and other financial transactions through any retail delivery
channel-branches, call centers, kiosks, ATMs, home banking, the Internet, retail dealers, the
Affinity Automated Loan Machine (ALMr), and beyond. The flexibility of Decisys/RTSM can
empower consumers to bank anytime and anywhere they like, while enabling financial institutions to
realize greater market share and assets by selling, servicing and fulfilling consumers' needs precisely
when and where they are ready to buy.
The Affinity ALMr delivers revenue generating branch services, without the brick-and-mortar
investment, and can be deployed in any location. It also serves as a powerful and immediate
fulfillment vehicle for transactions initiated through other retail delivery channels. Affinity is located
on the World Wide Web at www.moreassets.com
Here's a news release from this AM:
June 23, 1997
Dime Bancorp Agrees to Buy North American Mortgage
An INTERACTIVE EDITION News Roundup
Dime Bancorp Inc. signed a definitive agreement to acquire North American Mortgage Co. in a
deal valued at $374 million.
In a press release Monday, Dime, New York's biggest thrift and the fifth largest in the U.S., said it
will exchange 1.37 common shares for each North American common share at the time of closing.
Based on Dime's closing price on June 20, the ratio represents a value of $26.03 per North
American share.
In connection with the deal, which will be accounted for as a purchase, Dime said its board
approved a 6.9 million-share buyback, representing about 35% of the shares to be issued in the
transaction. The shares will be bought over time in the open market or in privately negotiated
transactions.
The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
North American Mortgage has the right to terminate the agreement if the price of Dime Bancorp's
common stock falls 20% or more, both absolutely and as compared to an index of other financial
institution stocks, subject to Dime's right to provide additional shares. The agreement also grants
Dime a termination fee of $15 million under certain circumstances.
The mortgage company will be headquartered in Tampa, Fla. and will operate under the North
American name in most markets and the Dime name in selected markets.
Fred Koons, the chief executive of Dime's mortgage business, will head the mortgage company.
Terry Hodel, North America's president, will be vice chairman of the mortgage company. Dime's
Rich Mirro will be president and chief operating officer.
The move would bolster Dime's position in the national mortgage market and is part of the
company's growth strategy. North American Mortgage, of Santa Rosa, Calif., was the 12th-largest
originator of mortgages last year, funding nearly $10 billion in new mortgage loans. It has 103
offices in 31 states, with particular strength in the western U.S. Dime ranked 49th in mortgage
originations last year, according to American Banker.
Dime's stock closed at $19 a share, up 25 cents, in composite trading on the New York Stock
Exchange trading Friday. North American Mortgage changed hands at $23.25, down 62.5 cents,
also on the Big Board.
Dime's stock price, like many financial-services companies, has been buoyed in recent weeks and
closed Friday at a 52-week high. That gives it added strength to finance stock acquisitions. Dime
expects the transaction to increase per-share earnings.
With nearly $19 billion in assets, $12.8 billion in deposits and 90 branches in the New York area,
Dime is a sizable thrift but dwarfed by the likes of Citicorp, Chase Manhattan Corp. and big
mortgage lenders such as Norwest Corp. The company is attempting to grow outside the
Northeast and gain economies of scale in certain products, such as mortgages.
Dime has been slowly building up its mortgage business, purchasing National Mortgage
Investments Co., based in Griffin, Ga., and James Madison Mortgage Co., based in Fairfax, Va., a
few years ago. Dime opened up a new mortgage center in Tampa headed by Mr. Koons, formerly
chief executive of Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp., with the goal of expanding the business.
North American Mortgage has rebounded in the past year after a tough shakeout in the mortgage
market. Its shares traded as high as $35 in mid-1984.
I don't know that there is a relation or that is is stimulating interest in
AFFI. We each need to draw are own conclusion.
Also, I haven,t been able to retrieve it today, but I believe there
was a filing for restricted / insider sale of a block of AFFI.
If I find it I'll post it.
Let me know what you think.
Jess
|
