Wachovia Corp and Huntington Bancshares, together with Area Bancshares Corp, plan to invest in a savings bank that will open its doors on the Internet later this year. The Security First Network Bank is currently a unit of Cardinal Bancshares, Lexington, Kentucky and received the approval of the US Office of Thrift Supervision last month. It will be spun off to Cardinal’s shareholders and operate from a single office in Pineville, Kentucky, having total assets of approximately $41m. The three companies plan to invest a total of $5m in the bank to acquire equity and cerain technology rights. Also as part of the spin-off, the bank will acquire for stock WebTech Inc, Atlanta, Georgia in exchange for stock in Security First. WebTech developed the primary computer banking product that the bank will use to offer Internet services. Through this acquisition, it says it plans to offer computer banking technology to the financial services industry. This will include selling to other financial services organisations the technology necessary for their customers to bank on the Internet. Cardinal has worked for the last nine months with computer software and security experts from SecureWare Inc to develop the security technology on which the bank’s on-line services will be based. Cardinal, Wachovia, Huntington and Area will receive the right to use the software developed for Security First in their own electronic banking offerings.
