CKFR Checkfree Corp (MM)

CheckFree Investment Services Evolves CheckFree APL(TM) Into a Next Generation Web-based Offering; Renames Leading Technology Platform CheckFree EPL(TM) to Emphasize an Enhanced Portfolio Lifecycle -- CheckFree EPL will Set a New Standard as a Platform to Enable Clients to Grow and Administer Institutional and Fee-Based Accounts -- ATLANTA and JERSEY CITY, N.J., Nov. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CheckFree Investment Services, a division of CheckFree Corporation (NASDAQ:CKFR), today announced the next phase of a transformation to evolve the technology, workflows and services currently available through CheckFree APL(TM), its market leading technology platform. The next generation, called CheckFree EPL(TM) (Enhanced Portfolio Lifecycle), is Web-based and designed with Microsoft(R).NET technology to deliver superior business, operational and cost efficiencies to broker/dealer firms, money managers and registered investment advisors. CheckFree Investment Services is the leading provider of remote processing services -- trading, portfolio management, accounting, reporting services and data -- to broker/dealers, money managers and investment consultants. The firm is introducing CheckFree EPL to its clients in phases. Workflow for New Accounts, the first phase, unveiled in March 2004, is a module for streamlining the investment management process, by enabling the industry's first real time new account opening function between managers and sponsors. In December, CheckFree Investment Services expects to introduce new reconciliation functionality, creating efficiencies by providing exception process management tools that highlight immediate risk and exceptions. Beta testing on remaining modules of CheckFree EPL will begin in fall 2005. "CheckFree is driving innovation in separately managed accounts and institutional money management with an open architecture that features new web functionality, advanced workflow efficiencies, and reduced resources required of client firms for a lower total cost of operation," said Alex Marasco, CheckFree Investment Services executive vice president and general manager. "Our clients will potentially experience dramatic improvement in operating efficiencies, making it easier for them to grow their business, launch new products and provide more personalized attention to investors." To achieve its time to market goals, CheckFree Investment Services has contracted with Satyam Computer Services Ltd. as its development partner for CheckFree EPL. Satyam is a market leader with demonstrated experience in reengineering legacy applications to emerging platforms, using Microsoft.NET technologies. To ensure the highest possible quality product development per customer and market requirements for CheckFree EPL, CheckFree Investment Services is leveraging the Six Sigma expertise and methodology that was used to build CheckFree Corporation's electronic billing and payment platform. By applying the Six Sigma discipline, CheckFree Investment Services will increase quality and value on numerous fronts, including support of industry standard protocols, transparent data exchange, multi-currency capabilities and significant potential reduction of overall costs and operations for clients. These enhancements, among others, will enable CheckFree clients to deliver greater quality and value to their own customers and investors. CheckFree EPL will support additional asset classes and instrument types, provide real-time transaction fulfillment and other mission-critical services such as tighter integration with internal and external systems and service providers. The system will offer scalability for products across multiple distribution channels, via a Web-based front-end with full reporting and audit capabilities. While CheckFree Investment Services is renowned in the separately managed accounts industry, CheckFree APL is also broadly used within the institutional money management arena. CheckFree Investment Services currently has in excess of 100 institutional money manager clients. An enhanced CheckFree EPL will service this marketplace through more robust multi-currency, trade order management and cash management/margin capabilities. Through CheckFree EPL, CheckFree Investment Services seeks to provide a single platform solution to its money manager clients for their combined institutional business as well as their separately managed accounts. Currently, 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 80 of the top Wall Street (sponsor) firms and 125 separate account 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 CheckFree Investment Services ( http://www.checkfreeinvsvcs.com/ ) Headquartered in Jersey City (NJ), CheckFree Investment Services provides a broad range of technology and workflow solutions to thousands of financial institutions in separately managed accounts and institutional money management. The company's staff of 400 professionals operates from six offices nationwide, including the Durham NC, location of its M-Solutions software applications. The CheckFree APL platform is leveraged by money managers, broker/dealer firms and investment advisors on a remote processing basis. Clients of CheckFree Investment Services manage nearly 1.7 million portfolios totaling over $1 trillion in assets. Measured by total assets, more than half of all multiple strategy portfolios (MSPs) are administered on CheckFree APL, making CheckFree Investment Services a leader in the rapidly growing areas of overlay portfolio management and MSPs. About CheckFree ( http://www.checkfreecorp.com/ ) Founded in 1981, CheckFree Corporation (NASDAQ:CKFR) provides financial electronic commerce services and products to organizations around the world. CheckFree Electronic Commerce solutions enable thousands of financial services providers and billers to offer their customers the convenience of receiving and paying their household bills online or in person through retail outlets. CheckFree Investment Services provides a broad range of investment management solutions and outsourced services to thousands of financial services organizations, which manage more than $1 trillion in assets. CheckFree Software develops, markets and supports software applications that are used by financial institutions to process more than two-thirds of the 10 billion Automated Clearing House transactions in the United States. The division also provides global trade processing, reconciliation, financial messaging, compliance and electronic billing and statement software to hundreds of organizations across the globe. Certain of CheckFree'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 CheckFree's business, and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in CheckFree's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including CheckFree's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2004 (filed September 3, 2004) and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2004 (filed November 9, 2004). One or more of these factors have affected, and could in the future affect CheckFree's business and financial results in future periods, and could cause actual results to differ materially from plans and projections. There can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements made in this press release will prove to be accurate, and issuance of such forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by CheckFree, or any other person, that the objectives and plans of CheckFree will be achieved. All forward-looking statements made in this press release are based on information presently available to management, and CheckFree assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. DATASOURCE: CheckFree Corporation CONTACT: Media, Judy DeRango Wicks, +1-678-375-1595, or , or Investor relations, Tina Moore, +1-678-375-1278, or , both of CheckFree Corporation Web site: http://www.checkfreecorp.com/ http://www.checkfreeinvsvcs.com/

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