Online Resources to Acquire IDS

CHANTILY, Va. – Internet services firm Online Resources is poised to acquire Integrated Data Systems, a small tech firm that had been gaining traction in the credit union industry. IDS, which was once together with Wescom Credit Union as Wescom IDS, currently has over 50 credit union clients, for a variety of products ranging from Internet banking and eStatements to Internet lending and its Skip-a-Payment lending product. IDS boasts a number of billion dollar CU clients, including Orange County Teachers, SAFE, Kinecta, San Diego County and others. Online Resources is paying $5 million in cash and stock, plus assumption of $300,000 of debt, for the privately-held IDS. Online Resources expects the deal to be neutral for its 2005 earnings. IDS will become part of Online Resources Banking Division and continue to maintain offices in Woodland Hills and Pleasanton, California. “We saw a really good fit for our company. This was just a unique circumstance where we saw a natural fit with Online Resources. We’d been working together on some mutual customers, though not a huge overlap,” said Ann Marie Michael, president of IDS. Michael said the firm’s 30 or so employees will continue on after the acquisition. “We’re not changing any staffing, they’ll continue doing what they’ve been doing. If anything our credit unions will have a broader offering of products than before,” said Michael, who noted that IDS also has some products Online Resources does not. Probably the one natural fit Online Resources brings IDS is electronic bill payment. IDS’ roots are actually in a brother-sister team. Michael and her brother, Dave Benning, merged their two individual firms, Benning Computer Systems and Lemar Consultants in the early `90s, before joining with WesCom years later. They eventually broke from Wescom, amicably says Michael, after some different views on the direction the firm should go. Both Michael and Benning will remain with IDS.