CKFR Checkfree Corp (MM)

Quantitative Advantage Looks To CheckFree APL as its 'Steering Wheel' in Separately Managed Accounts ATLANTA and JERSEY CITY, N.J., Dec. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CheckFree Investment Services, a division of CheckFree Corporation , today announced that Quantitative Advantage, a Minneapolis area-based money manager, is using CheckFree APL to administer its managed accounts. Quantitative Advantage offers separately managed accounts implemented with exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds. CheckFree Investment Services is the leading provider of outsourced trading, portfolio management, accounting, reporting services and data to broker/dealers and money managers in separately managed accounts. "A fairly new entrant in the separately managed accounts arena, Quantitative Advantage is making a name for itself with the firm's innovative portfolio strategy," said Alex Marasco, CheckFree Investment Services executive vice president and general manager. Adapative Risk Management System (ARMS), the portfolio strategy developed by Quantitative Advantage for financial advisors/brokers and their clients, is designed to enhance performance while reducing risk by utilizing a diversified approach to detect which sectors, styles and countries are moving in and out of (market) favor. ARMS is an alternative to buy-and-hold investing, but is not market timing. Rather than moving out of stocks and into another asset class, Quantitative Advantage remains fully committed to the equity portion of each client's portfolio. Market timers look to come in or out of stocks at an opportune moment, while Quantitative Advantage stays in the market and has the flexibility to adapt portfolios into the best performing groups. Quantitative Advantage is in the process of connecting to 5 custodians through CheckFree APL. "CheckFree APL gives us a steering wheel to efficiently trade with each custodian," said John Wing, Quantitative Advantage president. "Furthermore, having CheckFree APL is a selling point for us as we approach broker/dealers about participating in their sponsored programs, because they need to know we can handle the process of setting up new accounts and facilitate trading." CheckFree APL serves as the leading separately managed accounts platform, providing remote processing services to sponsor firms, money managers and financial advisors for the automation of investment management, trading, portfolio performance and investor reporting. CheckFree APL's open platform enables approximately 39 of the top 50 Wall Street (sponsor) firms and 36 of the top 40 managers to interface with each other, and operate in a straight- through processing environment. Institutional money managers also use CheckFree APL to enter and maintain account data, manage trades and measure portfolio performance. About Quantitative Advantage ( http://www.qadvantage.biz/ ) The managed portfolio services of Quantitative Advantage are available in a variety of models, both in retirement plans and separate accounts, and are offered through a growing network of participating brokers, CPA firms and independent financial advisors across the nation. Quantitative Advantage, a SEC registered investment advisor, is based in the Minneapolis area and has recently opened a branch office near Richmond, Virginia. About CheckFree Investment Services ( http://www.checkfreeinvsvcs.com/ ) Headquartered in Jersey City (NJ), CheckFree Investment Services provides a broad range of investment management services to thousands of financial institutions. The company's staff of 350 professionals operates from six offices nationwide, including Research Triangle Park, location of its M- Solutions software applications: M-Search, the leading separate accounts manager database and analytical tool; M-Pact, a Web-based, enterprise solution for manager analysis, reporting and proposal generation; and M-Watch, a performance reporting and measurement system. Clients of CheckFree Investment Services manage 1.3 million portfolios totaling $731 billion in assets. The CheckFree APL platform is leveraged by asset management, broker/dealer firms and investment advisors on a remote processing basis. About CheckFree ( http://www.checkfreecorp.com/ ) CheckFree (NASDAQ:CKFR) is the leading provider of financial electronic commerce services and products. Founded in 1981 and celebrating its 23rd year in e-commerce, CheckFree is comprised of three divisions: Electronic Commerce, Software, and Investment Services. CheckFree launched the first fully integrated electronic billing and payment solution in 1997. In the quarter ended September 30, 2003, more than 11 million consumers initiated online payments through services offered by CheckFree's Electronic Commerce division. Electronic billing and payment is available through more than a thousand financial services organizations, including banks, brokerage firms, Internet portals and personal financial management (PFM) software. At these sites, consumers are able to electronically receive and pay about 300 bills, representing the bills most common to a U.S. household. CheckFree delivers nearly 15 million e-Bills each quarter. CheckFree's Software division provides solutions through three operating units: CheckFree ACH Solutions, CheckFree Financial and Compliance Solutions (CFACS), and CheckFree i-Solutions. CheckFree ACH Solutions provides software and services that are used to process more than two-thirds of the nation's nine billion Automated Clearing House payments, while CFACS provides reconciliation and compliance software and services to more than 500 organizations in the banking, brokerage, utility, retail, insurance and credit card industries, among others. CheckFree i-Solutions is the leading provider of e-Billing and e-statement software and services for both business-to- consumer and business-to-business applications, with more billers as clients than all of its competitors have combined. Certain of the Company's statements in this press release are not purely historical, and as such are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include statements regarding management's intentions, plans, beliefs, expectations or projections of the future. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, the various risks inherent in the Company's business, and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Company's Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2003 (filed September 15, 2003) and Form 8-K (filed October 21, 2003). There can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements made in this document will prove to be accurate, and issuance of such forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by the Company, or any other person, that the objectives and plans of the Company will be achieved. All forward-looking statements made in this press release are based on information presently available to management, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. DATASOURCE: CheckFree Corporation CONTACT: Judy DeRango Wicks, Media relations, +1-678-375-1595 or , and Tina Moore, Investor relations, +1-678-375-1278 or , both of CheckFree Corporation Web site: http://www.qadvantage.biz/ http:/// http://www.checkfreeinvsvcs.com/ http:/// http://www.checkfreecorp.com/ Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/821650.html

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