STRATEGIC PARTNERS
January 9, 2000
MILWAUKEE -- eFunds, a business unit of Deluxe Corporation, announced it achieved its highest ever transaction volume for a single day on Dec. 23 at more than 12 million transactions. The company, whose software, processing, and gateway services handle 15 billion EFT transactions a year around the globe, also reports that ATMs and POS devices made a smooth transition into the new millennium. Compared to 1998, eFunds' transaction volume showed a marked increase during the entire final week of 1999. From Dec. 23-31, eFunds' EFT volume was up 25 percent, which includes processing for ATMs, POS debit cards and electronic benefits transfer transactions. The largest increases over 1998 were recorded Monday, Dec. 27, with a 55 percent increase and Thursday, Dec. 30, with a 45 percent jump. "The first transaction spike on Dec. 27 was probably related to shoppers hitting the post-holiday sales or restocking groceries and using their debit cards, while others visited the ATM to replenish their cash after the weekend," said Debra Janssen, president and CEO of eFunds. "The spike on Dec. 30 was most likely related to consumers, as expected, taking out cash for the New Year's weekend celebrations and somewhat because of Y2K concerns," she added. eFunds witnessed increased transaction volume throughout the year and will report a strong year-over-year increase, once final December figures are tabulated. "We expect continued strong EFT growth in the new year," Janssen said. eFunds drives more than 8,500 ATMs worldwide, provides account opening tools at more than 80,000 financial services locations, provides check verification at more than 77,000 retail locations, processes more than 500,000 electronic check transactions each month and is the largest third-party EFT processor handling nearly 5 billion transactions a year.
