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Technology Stocks : CheckFree (CKFR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brooks Jackson who wrote (850)	12/3/1997 5:54:00 PM
From: Brooks Jackson	Respond to of 8545

Bill Gates had to go out of his way today to reassure bankers that he's not trying to grab their business. IMO that's further evidence of MSFDC's weak competitive posture. Interesting Reuter's story follows. Of special note: Quotes from CEO of First Union, who says "technology is the product" in banking these days. And Gates' prediction that 66% of households will have computers in a few years, up from 40% now. Further evidence that e-pay and e-bill will boom. NEW ORLEANS, Reuter - Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Gates said Wednesday his company has no intention of getting into the banking business, preferring instead to make money by selling technology to the banks. Gates also said that as the world evolves to a "Web lifestyle," the Internet will be the medium of choice not only for business transactions, but for leisure time activity. He spoke via satellite hookup to a gathering of 9,500 retail bankers and others at a banking conference here. "You decide what is on your Web site," Gates said, assuring that in Microsoft's vision of the business, "no one is in the middle collecting data." Some bankers have been fearful that technology companies would "mine" mountains of data that is generated about customers. Microsoft is "highly motivated" to make sure banks view the company's activities as complementary to the banking business and not a competitive threat, Gates said. Without providing any figures, he said the amount of revenue that Microsoft gets from its bank customers "far exceeds" revenues from the company's own Web sites. Asked if Gates had indeed reassured the bankers, Patrick Swanick, head of KeyCorp'selectronic services unit, said: "I think that's true." Swanick said KeyCorp's relationship with Microsoft benefits its seven million banking customers, but added that his bank does not have an exclusive relationship with Microsoft. KeyCorp is an equity partner in the Integrion consortium along with 17 other banks, Visa and International Business Machines Corp. Gates said personal computers are now in 40 percent of U.S. households and will be in about 66 percent in a few years. However, he said, while most banks have Web sites, only a small percentage allow customers to transfer funds or pay bills online. Edward Crutchfield, chairman and chief executive of First Union Corp., the Charlotte, N.C., bank holding company that is the nation's sixth-largest, suggested the banking business has evolved to the point where "technology is the product." He said First Union spends $650 million a year on technology. "We'll spend that much every year as far as the eye can see," he said. Crutchfield said technology has been one of the factors driving a wave of bank mergers. He said Jacksonville, Fla.-based Barnett Banks Inc., a bank with about $50 billion in assets and ranked among the nation's 25 largest, put itself up for sale because it could not keep up with the demand for fresh investment in technology. The acquisition of Barnett by NationsBank Corp.is pending completion. Crutchfield said the number of U.S. banking companies, now more than 8,000, down from 14,000 in the 1980s, eventually will shrink to about 2,000 as mergers continue. He said eventually there will be "10 or 12, maybe 15 dominant financial services companies" in the United States involved in activities that will include brokerage services and insurance. In a video presentation at the conference, Hewlett-Packard showed a futuristic world in which people used devices such as pocket telephones into which a "smart card" could be inserted to load cash value. Crutchfield observed that in Japan, plastic cards have become the dominant way of paying for products in vending machines. "Frankly, I think they're way ahead of us," he said. REUTERS

To: Brooks Jackson who wrote (850)	12/3/1997 8:28:00 PM
From: Brian K Crawford	Respond to of 8545

Good points Brooks. Wells Fargo is sitting at all the important tables...Intregrion, MSFDC, and CKFR. All the bankers want AT LEAST one viable competitor for CKFR to keep them honest. Given CKFR's huge lead in the billpay market, it makes lots of sense for MSFDC to begin their push in E-bill, where CKFR is just getting off the ground, too. I expect banks in the not too distant future will begin offering "FREE! home banking with electronic billpay!" What that will mean is account access thru an OFX compliant web server and an E-bill offering. (and the banker can offer MSFDC or CKFR E-bill) Alternatively, if you want account access, E-bill, AND the ability to pay someone that isn't delivering their bills to an E-Biller, that will be "Home banking Deluxe" and will cost $5.95 per month. (This service will require today's billpay offering from CKFR or Travelers, plus somebody's E-Bill service, plus a web server for account access). There is no doubt CKFR is in the drivers seat, since they can play under both scenarios, where MSFDC needs a Billpay partner to go both ways. I wonder who they will connect with? Good luck, Brian COG