Unisys Helps Make Huntington Bank Digital to Capitalize on Check 21

(2005-03-17)

New solutions leverage unique Unisys 3D Blueprinting to allow bank to exchange images and archive data for better customer service

Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) today announced that it will help Huntington National Bank transform its payment operations to exchange digital images instead of paper, an industry trend encouraged by the Check 21 law that went into effect late last year.



The engagement includes consulting services, software and hardware to provide an end-to-end solution that enables Huntington to advance its payments transformation strategy. Unisys will help Huntington validate check image quality and clear and settle transactions with its image exchange software. Its image security software will also verify image quality and usability. This allows the bank to validate images with digital signatures at the first point in the process: the check transport system that captures the check electronically.



"We have chosen Unisys as a trusted partner in helping us to better serve our customers and handle data more efficiently," said Ted Kute, senior vice president of operations at Huntington. "Drawing on the deep industry expertise of Unisys consultants, the bank can have a better enterprise-wide view of our payments business."



An integral part of the Unisys solution is its payment information engine and archive for images and data that can track and use information more effectively across an entire financial institution. The engine is flexible and configurable, providing a more strategic view of best operating practices to deploy across a company to save costs. At Huntington, it runs on Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 operating system and uses the SQL Server 2000 database application. The engine can access a variety of external systems and internal image databases and complete payment histories, allowing the bank to more effectively import, capture, store, manage and use transactional information. As a result, Unisys can help Huntington achieve greater cost and operational efficiencies in its transformation to image exchange.



"Change is the only constant in payments today," said Gary Cawthorne, managing partner of the global banking practice at Unisys. "With ever-evolving technology and consumer habits, banks need solutions like ours that have the agility to adapt to frequent market and technology shifts. We provide visibility into a bank's current best practices and can also help anticipate its future needs."



Using its 3D Blueprinting methodology, Unisys has worked with Huntington, as well as a number of top 10 U.S. banks, to help them better understand and address the transformation needed to capitalize on Check 21 and image exchange. As a result, Unisys consultants can help a bank move closer to becoming a 3D Visible Enterprise (3D-VE) – an organization that can see the impact of business decisions before they are made. Through its 3D-VE workshops, Unisys has identified more than 100 business processes potentially affected in preparation for payments transformation. The workshops help bank senior management analyze the gaps that exist in their current operations and better formulate a transformation strategy for their entire operations, including fraud detection, new product launches and other procedures.



Unisys, which processes half the world's checks through its payment solutions and outsourcing engagements, also recently announced that it is working with Oracle to adapt the Unisys payment information engine and archive for Oracle® Database 10g. Future plans also include versions of the Unisys solutions for Linux to provide financial institutions with a robust enterprise view of payments, regardless of the technology platform.


About Huntington
Huntington National Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ: HBAN), a $33 billion regional bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Through its affiliated companies, Huntington has more than 139 years of serving the financial needs of its customers. Huntington provides innovative retail and commercial financial products and services through more than 300 regional banking offices in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. Huntington also offers retail and commercial financial services online at huntington.com; through its technologically advanced, 24-hour telephone bank; and through its network of approximately 700 ATMs. Selected financial service activities are also conducted in other states including: Dealer Sales offices in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Arizona; Private Financial Group offices in Florida; and Mortgage Banking offices in Florida, Maryland, and New Jersey. International banking services are made available through the headquarters office in Columbus and an office located in the Cayman Islands and an office located in Hong Kong.



About Unisys
Unisys is a worldwide information technology services and solutions company. Our people combine expertise in consulting, systems integration, outsourcing, infrastructure and server technology with precision thinking and relentless execution to help clients, in more than 100 countries, quickly and efficiently achieve competitive advantage. For more information, visit www.unisys.com.


###
RELEASE NO.: 0305/8521
Unisys is a registered trademark of Unisys Corporation. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. All other brands and products referenced herein are acknowledged to be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders..

Contacts Danielle D'Angelo, Unisys, 914-262-9834

danielle.dangelo@unisys.com



Dawn Kahle, Weber Shandwick for Unisys, 972-830-2428

dkahle@webershandwick.com