Speaking of
Not Making Money on ATMs
Banc One's
earnings are expected to be about $1.25 billion lower due to the
company's recent restructuring and acquisitions. As you may know,
Banc One is the organization formed from the merger of Banc One Corp.
and First Chicago NBD Corp. (See the November 1998 issue of GSQ, page
15, for more information on Banc One).
The decreased
earnings for the end of 1998 and beginning of 1999 are due, in part,
to an ATM program called Rapid Cash. The program was started in 1997
and was not as profitable as Banc One anticipated. Banc One will be
reconsidering where their ATMs are placed in hopes of increasing
profits.
It's not all bad
news, though. Due to an investment in Concord EFS, which merged with
Electronic Payment Services, Banc One will have a one-time pretax
gain of $.08 a share in the first quarter.
Banc One is very
clear and open about the decline in earnings. "What we're trying to
do is look at the fourth quarter numbers and recognize these
things,'' says Thomas Kelly, a spokesman at Banc One. "We're being
proactive-making a decision and telling people about
it.''
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