THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 4, 1995 TAG: 9504040305
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
About 200 jobs at NationsBank's card-processing operation in Norfolk will be shifted to other cities because of its joint venture with a major card processor, said NationsBank Card Services Monday.
NationsBank and National Bancard, a subsidiary of First Financial Management Corp., are creating an Atlanta-based company - Unified Merchant Services - to authorize, process and settle transactions for their merchant customers in NationsBank's nine-state region.
Most of the NationsBank employees doing this work will be offered other jobs at the company's Norfolk card facility, said Eileen M. Friars, president of NationsBank Card Services. The NationsBank card operation employs more than 1,600 people.
NationsBank decided to team up with National Bancard for economic reasons. Processing card transactions for merchants requires a greater volume of transactions and increased investment in technology to remain profitable, Friars said.
In addition, National Bancard has developed new card services. These services will be available to some of NationsBank's 70,000 merchant customers through the joint venture, she said.
Because of the greater requirements for profitability, many banks have sold their merchant card-processing operations in recent years.
However, NationsBank is committed to staying in the business, Friars said. ``We think there is growth potential and good profitability in it,'' she said.
With $9 billion of annual card transactions, the NationsBank-National Bancard joint venture will be the largest processor of its kind in NationsBank's market area, said O.B. Rawls, president of the new company. Rawls had been merchant division executive of NationsBank Card Services.
Earlier this year, NationsBank Card Services and National Bancard won a contract from the Postal Service to install point-of-sale terminals in 33,000 post offices throughout the country.
The terminals will allow Postal Service customers to pay with credit cards and debit cards, which deduct payments directly from an individual's checking account. by CNB