The transaction advances Viewpointe's goal of an end-to-end clearing and settlement offering to customers.

In completing the deal, Viewpointe announced a restructuring to reflect the newly added expertise in settlement and ACH, while positioning the company for further opportunities in the payments solutions space. The company is establishing three business units to focus on its key strengths -- image archiving, clearing and settlement, and emerging business:

-- Viewpointe Document Archive & Repository Services -- This business unit will focus on the Viewpointe archiving business; Viewpointe operates one of the world's largest storage environments, which currently stores more than 125.5 billion check images. Former Viewpointe chief operating officer Rich Walsh will serve as president of this unit and be responsible for further development and management of a comprehensive suite of image storage solutions.

-- Viewpointe Clearing, Settlement and Association Services -- This unit will offer end-to-end payments clearing and settlement services, encompassing Viewpointe's existing image exchange offerings as well as the former PaymentsNation settlement and regional payments association services. Former PaymentsNation chief executive officer Glenn Wheeler has been named president of this business unit.

-- Viewpointe Emerging Business -- As president of this unit, Diane Scott, former Viewpointe chief sales, marketing and product officer / chief strategy officer, will focus on advancing Viewpointe into new markets, payment types and inorganic growth opportunities. This unit will be charged with identifying and pursuing new business opportunities in support of financial institutions' needs.

Each unit president reports to Lou Buglioli, chief executive officer of Viewpointe LLC.

"In conjunction with the PaymentsNation integration, we felt it was the ideal time to restructure the organization so we can better serve our customers and align around their needs," Buglioli said. "The integration of PaymentsNation is a logical next step to advance our goal of clearing and settlement convergence. We believe our organization provides a richer value proposition for financial institutions and offers more comprehensive payments solutions. Long term, the new structure allows us to enhance our focus on offering to financial institutions beyond check."

The newly appointed business unit presidents have a wealth of experience in the payments industry and will deliver the critical forward-thinking insight required to foster growth for Viewpointe in the years to come. Rich Walsh, who has nearly 20 years of operations information technology experience, joined Viewpointe in 2001. He spent nine years at Electronic Data Services and previously worked for EBS Dealing Resources, Inc., the world's leading electronic foreign exchange broker. Glenn Wheeler has extensive banking experience, including managing bank operations ranging from large national financial institutions to local community banks.

Before serving as CEO of PaymentsNation, he was president of National Clearing House Association and its predecessor organization, The Clearing House Association of the Southwest. Diane Scott joined Viewpointe in 2006. She has extensive experience working with financial services and private equity firms in North America, the U.K., Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

In addition, this restructuring includes the establishment of a corporate-level shared services organization within Viewpointe. This area will be led by Mark Ryan, who has been appointed to the position of shared services chief operating officer (COO). With more than 20 years experience in financial technology services, Mark joins Viewpointe from Sage Software where he was senior vice president / COO.

Viewpointe announced in September 2008 the agreement to acquire the assets of PaymentsNation as a strategic move to provide a more comprehensive set of payments services to financial institutions. With the integration of PaymentsNation, Viewpointe Clearing, Settlement and Association Services will have approximately 800 financial institution customers and is one of 21 regional payments associations that provide comprehensive payments education and training.

Viewpointe LLC is helping move the financial industry closer to full payments electronification and convergence. The company is owned by Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, SunTrust, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo and IBM, and offers services to financial institutions of all sizes throughout the U.S.

Separately, Viewpointe, a leading provider of check image exchange and archive services, announced today that it has hired Mark Ryan as its shared services chief operating officer (COO). Shared Services, a new division within Viewpointe, was created as part of the company's restructuring after the PaymentsNation acquisition.

In his position, Ryan will lead several business support functions of the company including marketing, technology and operations, sales and customer relations. The Shared Services organization will lead corporate-level initiatives and will also provide functional support to efforts led by the three newly-formed business units within Viewpointe -- Document Archive and Repository Services; Clearing, Settlement and Association Services; and Emerging Business.

"Mark has more than 20 years of experience in financial technology services," said Lou Buglioli, chief executive officer of Viewpointe, LLC. "His background in banking and technology plus his experience in leading organizations like our Shared Services unit fit exactly with our goal of increasing payments processing efficiency for financial institutions and decreasing the operational barriers they face."

Ryan most recently served as senior vice president and COO of the healthcare division of Sage Software, a provider of business management software and services. He was responsible for the company's overall performance, focusing on sales, operations and technology. Prior to that, Ryan was the executive vice president and general manager of image payment technologies at BISYS/Open Solutions, Inc., a provider of integrated, enterprise-wide data processing technologies for banks and credit unions. While there, his duties included managing operations, sales and product development. Ryan has also held executive positions at Republic National Bank, Barclays Bank of New York and Continental Bank.