St. Paul bank sells business to Texas tech company

Northwestern Financial Review, Aug 15, 2001

Aurum Technology Inc., Plano, Texas, has purchased St. Paul, Minn.-- based Midway National Bank's Data Center and Item Processing business. The transaction closed in July.

Midway Data and Item Processing, which were previously divisions of Midway Bank, provided services to more than 30 community-based financial institutions in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

All of Midway's core data processing and item processing employees and customers will be rolled into Aurum. Midway's main core processing software was the same as Aurum's, so the transition should be easy for customers and employees, said Ray Maturi, Aurum president and CEO.

"The combination of our two companies will strengthen Aurum's overall growth strategy in the Upper Midwest and provide a solid foundation of employees and customers to build upon," said John Ritt, chairman, president and CEO of Midway National Bank, adding that former Midway Data clients should expect an easy, if not seamless, transition. The sale, said Ritt, is a result of Midway's plan to focus on its consumer and business banking organization. --

Like the previous processing divisions of Midway, Aurum utilizes a banking software package developed by Information Technologies, Inc., or ITI. "It's a very popular package among community banks. It has a large presence in Minnesota. It is our intention to add new outsourcing services in conjunction with the software," said Matt Bowen, senior vice president of marketing for Aurum Technology.

Aurum focuses on services such as core banking, Internet banking, item processing, ATM debit cards and consulting for community-based financial institutions.

"Midway decided to focus more on banking and less on data processing, so they started to spin off the tech division," said Carol Barreyre, a communication consultant representing Aurum. "Aurum found this opportunity attractive because it gives them a presence in the Upper Midwest, which was their goal."

Midway Bank will remain a customer of Aurum.

Aurum has also announced the acquisition of the Kansas City-- based Morningside Corporation, the developer and provider of the Morningside core processing, teller and platform software for community and mid-tier banks, which is prominently used in the Kansas City area.