Between them, France’s two leading banking information software and services companies, Sligos SA and Axime SA, are to take a 66.7% stake in French cheque-processing services company, Mantis SA. Sligos, a subsidiary of the state-owned Credit Lyonnais banking group, and Segin, a subsidiary of Axime, which in turn is a subsidiary of another state bank, Banque Paribas, will each hold 33.35% of Mantis, said a Sligos spokesman. The two new shareholders will act as industrial operators, while Mantis will deal with marketing. The Banque of France and the National Board of Commerce directed Mantis to set up a database of stolen and lost cheques, following the adoption in December 1991 and the implementation in June 1992 of a new law intended to give interested parties with more protection against bad cheques. The database also holds information on bank and court restrictions on individuals and companies, and on closed accounts. Sligos and Segin both specialise in the high-security processing needed for cheque verification. Approximately 30% of Sligos’s turnover comes from finance and banking, while Segin holds 37% of the French credit card transaction processing market. The Sligos spokesman said that Mantis’ revenues are expected to increase significantly this year – in 1992, the company generated $928,570-worth of sales – as France’s largest supermarkets begin to use the database.
