iPay Technologies and MasterCard RPPS Expand Processing Relationship to Advance Electronic Bill Payment Among Regional, Local Billers

MONETT, Mo., Sept. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ: JKHY), a leading provider of technology solutions and payment processing services primarily for financial services organizations, and MasterCard Worldwide today announced an expanded processing relationship between its iPay Technologies™ division and MasterCard's RPPS® electronic bill payment network.  

With this agreement, iPay is making its biller connections available to bill payment originators who use MasterCard's RPPS electronic bill payment processing services. As a result, these originators can eliminate a significant volume of checks that they currently mail to those billers and replace them with electronic payments. The processing relationship between iPay and RPPS will enable more than 1,500 local and regional billers in verticals spanning utilities, consumer lending, telecommunications, and municipalities to now receive consumer bill payments electronically through the MasterCard RPPS network.

According to Greg Adelson, group president of iPay Technologies, "Online bill payment has become more mainstream as the convenient, chosen method for millions of consumers to pay their bills. However, if a consumer's bill payment provider cannot deliver payments electronically to local and regional billers, the paper check alternative causes delays in delivery and posting as well as an added expense, all of which negatively impact both the consumer and biller. Teaming with MasterCard RPPS allows more consumers to have access to iPay's vast array of biller relationships, thereby enabling both organizations to capitalize on opportunities for extending the scope of electronic payments and their inherent benefits."

MasterCard RPPS is an industry leading electronic bill payment network serving the online bill payment market with solutions that provide extensive reach to thousands of billers in the U.S. iPay, with its maturity in the online bill pay space, has established direct electronic communications with thousands of billers, many of which were previously unable to receive electronic payments.

Gidget Hall, senior vice president and group head of Bill Payment and RPPS at MasterCard Worldwide, said, "Today, more than 40 million households pay bills via online and mobile banking. Yet for many local and regional billers, a high percentage of those payments arrive in the form of costly and inefficient checks. Through this agreement, MasterCard RPPS and iPay will help expand electronic payments and improve the quality and efficiency of payment processing activities for regional utility companies and local municipalities, as well as the consumers they serve."

About MasterCard RPPS

Since 1987, MasterCard RPPS has served at the center of the online banking revolution, connecting financial institutions, consumer service providers, processors, and billers with a powerful network for electronic delivery of consumer bill payments.  For more information, please visit us at www.mastercardrpps.com.

About MasterCard Worldwide

As a leading global payments company, MasterCard Worldwide prides itself on being at the heart of commerce, helping to make life easier and more efficient for everyone, everywhere. MasterCard serves as a franchisor, processor, and advisor to the payments industry, and makes commerce happen by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, governments, businesses, merchants, and cardholders worldwide. In 2010, $2.7 trillion in gross dollar volume was generated on its products by consumers around the world. Powered by the MasterCard Worldwide Network – the fastest payment processing network in the world – MasterCard processes over 23 billion transactions each year and has the capacity to handle 160 million transactions per hour, with an average network response time of 130 milliseconds and with 99.99 percent reliability. MasterCard advances global commerce through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro®, and Cirrus®; its suite of core products such as credit, debit, and prepaid; and its innovative platforms and functionalities, such as MasterCard PayPass™ and MasterCard inControl®. MasterCard serves consumers, governments, and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information, please visit us at www.mastercard.com. Follow us on Twitter: @mastercardnews.

About iPay Technologies

iPay Technologies is a leading provider of online bill payment solutions that incorporate a sophisticated bill pay engine that easily integrates with any online banking platform; best-of-breed retail, small business, and person-to-person bill payment solutions; extensive payments expertise; and outstanding service. Through strategic partnerships with more than 50 providers of information processing and online banking solutions, iPay's turnkey, highly configurable electronic payments platform is supporting more than 3,600 banks and credit unions, including more than half of the nation's credit unions and approximately 40 percent of the nation's community banks that offer bill payment services. Additional information is available at www.ipaytechnologies.com.

About Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.

Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ: JKHY) is a leading provider of technology solutions and payment processing services primarily for financial services organizations. Its technology solutions serve more than 11,200 customers nationwide, and are marketed and supported through four primary brands. Jack Henry Banking™ supports banks ranging from de novo to mid-tier institutions with information processing solutions. Symitar™ is the leading provider of information processing solutions for credit unions of all sizes. ProfitStars® provides highly specialized products and services that enable financial institutions of every asset size and charter, and diverse corporate entities to mitigate and control risks, optimize revenue and growth opportunities, and contain costs. iPay Technologies operates as a leading electronic bill pay provider supporting banks and credit unions with turnkey, highly configurable retail and small business electronic payment platforms.  Additional information is available at www.jackhenry.com.

Statements made in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking information.  Actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking information.  Specifically, there are a number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by any forward-looking information.  Additional information on these and other factors, which could affect the Company's financial results, are included in its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings on Form 10-K, and potential investors should review these statements.  Finally, there may be other factors not mentioned above or included in the Company's SEC filings that may cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking information.

SOURCE Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.