Bankrate, Inc. Announces Acquisition of Wallaby Financial

Helps Consumers Maximize Credit Card Rewards, Deepens Mobile Expertise & Establishes Ongoing Customer Relationship With Audience

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Bankrate, Inc.

Dec 01, 2014, 04:15 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Bankrate, Inc. (NYSE: RATE) announced the acquisition of Wallaby Financial, Inc., the leader in mobile and web-based credit card optimization solutions for consumers. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Wallaby's Web, iPhone, Android, and wearable solutions work alongside its proprietary algorithms and, based on geo-location and consumer preferences, help consumers maximize the rewards they earn with each credit card purchase. Through Wallaby, consumers can also sign up for new cards that are closely aligned with their purchase habits. Wallaby's proprietary CardBase™ database includes more than 2,400 credit cards offered by over 500 financial institutions and is the ideal companion for every digital wallet solution.

Bankrate will combine Wallaby's product family and proprietary technology with its existing credit card distribution platform. This includes CreditCards.com, the leading online credit card marketplace. Last year, more than 35 million consumers used CreditCards.com's sites to find the right card.

"Wallaby's mobile and data-driven approach is the future of financial services marketing," said Kenneth S. Esterow, president and CEO of Bankrate, Inc. "Adding Wallaby's capabilities to our industry-leading content is an important first step in establishing ongoing customer relationships with our audience across Bankrate, Inc. Since we partnered with Wallaby earlier this year, tests with their products have demonstrated substantial increases in conversion rates in our profitable and growing credit card channel."

Matthew Goldman, founder and CEO of Wallaby, added, "We're thrilled to join Bankrate. Their massive consumer audience, leading distribution partnerships, and financial resources will allow Wallaby to help millions of Americans acquire and use the right financial products."

Founded in 2012, Wallaby has built a loyal customer base of more than 100,000 users for whom it has optimized more than eleven million credit card transactions and recommended more than $20 million in consumer savings. Wallaby's mobile app was named a Top 15 Best Financial App by Money Magazine in 2013.

About Bankrate, Inc.
Bankrate is a leading publisher, aggregator, and distributor of personal finance content on the Internet. Bankrate provides consumers with proprietary, fully researched, comprehensive, independent and objective personal finance editorial content across multiple vertical categories including mortgages, deposits, insurance, credit cards, and other categories, such as retirement, automobile loans, and taxes. The Bankrate network includes Bankrate.com, CreditCards.com, InsuranceQuotes.com and Caring.com, our flagship websites, and other owned and operated personal finance websites, including Interest.com, Bankaholic.com, Mortgage-calc.com, CreditCardGuide.com, CarInsuranceQuotes.com, Insweb.com, CreditCards.ca, and NetQuote.com. Bankrate aggregates rate information from over 4,800 institutions on more than 300 financial products. With coverage of over 600 local markets in all 50 U.S. states, Bankrate generates over 172,000 distinct rate tables capturing on average over three million pieces of information daily. Bankrate develops and provides web services to over 80 co-branded websites with online partners, including some of the most trusted and frequently visited personal finance sites on the Internet such as Yahoo!, AOL, CNBC, and Bloomberg. In addition, Bankrate licenses editorial content to over 500 newspapers on a daily basis including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe.

About Wallaby Financial, Inc.
Wallaby is the leader in credit card data and consumer financial information applications. Powered by CardBase™, a proprietary database of more than 2,000 credit card profiles, and Wallaby's unique real-time optimization algorithms, Wallaby's product suite helps consumers to earn more rewards and save more money. Wallaby informs consumers about which card to use when shopping, and helps them find the best credit card to add to their wallets by taking into account rewards, fees, interest rates and more financial data. Wallaby products are available for Web, iPhone, Android, wearables, and more. For more information, please visit https://www.walla.by. Stay connected with Wallaby on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @wallabycard.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements, which include statements expressing the intent, belief or current expectations of Bankrate and Wallaby that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties and are subject to change based on various factors, many of which are beyond our control. Actual results might differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with the transaction and Bankrate's and Wallaby's businesses, which include, but are not limited to: macroeconomic conditions and general industry conditions such as the competitive environment and the growth prospects for mobile and web-based credit card optimization solutions for consumers; the ability to retain employees following the acquisition; the ability to successfully execute on our mobile strategy and other initiatives mentioned in this release; the effects of disruption from the transaction making it more difficult to maintain relationships with consumers, customers, suppliers and other business partners; litigation and regulatory risks; and risks related to the successful integration of the business acquired and the ability to realize the expected benefits from such acquisition. For more information about factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations, refer to Bankrate's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the discussion under "Risk Factors" in Bankrate's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 along with any modifications or updates to those "Risk Factors" in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. These documents are available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Bankrate undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.

For more information:
Bruce J. Zanca
SVP, Chief Communications/Marketing Officer
[email protected]
(917) 368-8600

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SOURCE Bankrate, Inc.