Press Releases
Novastar Financial, Inc. Outsources Payments Processing to SunGard’s AvantGard
August 31, 2009 — Kansas City, MO
Novastar Financial, Inc. (Novastar), a leading investment management company, has chosen to outsource the processing of its payments to SunGard’s AvantGard. By outsourcing both check and ACH payment processing, Novastar will benefit from lower transactions costs and expedited processing.
Novastar opted to outsource payments processing as a result of steadily rising check volumes and a lack of appropriate staffing to handle the manual process of stuffing and mailing envelops. AvantGard PayNetExchange provides an automated, online portal to upload payment advices as well as execute the payments as either checks, wires, ACH or via SWIFT.
By using SunGard’s AvantGard, Novastar hopes to reduce postal costs and improve efficiency in payment processing. AvantGard will help Novastar reduce manual effort and redirect focus to its core business. Novastar also expects its relationship with vendors to improve, as now they will be receiving their payments in an expedited timeframe.
Jessica Livingston, account manager at Novastar, said, “Outsourcing functions such as payments processing helps companies focus on their core business. Payment solutions, whether in-house or outsourced, can help decrease process time and assist in check to ACH conversion."
Mike Kresse, senior vice president of payments services at SunGard’s AvantGard business unit, said, “Companies today are examining their processes closely and are increasingly choosing to outsource payments as a strategic step in refocusing on core initiatives and away from time-consuming manual processes. There are numerous benefits to this approach; among these are helping improve accuracy, enhance efficiencies and reducing risk for fraud. In fact, accurate payments processing and communication of remittance advices to vendors or suppliers can help to drive down the costs associated with the processing and settling of each payment.”
About Novastar Financial, Inc.
NovaStar Financial, Inc. (Pink Sheets: NOVS), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an investment management company and is the majority owner of StreetLinks National Appraisal Services LLC and Advent Financial Services LLC. StreetLinks is a residential real estate appraisal procurement and management company that provides nationwide real estate valuation services to lenders and other mortgage origination firms. Advent will provide access to tailored banking accounts, small dollar banking products and related services to meet the needs of low and moderate income level individuals.
About AvantGard
SunGard’s AvantGard is a leading liquidity management solution for corporations, insurance companies and the public sector. AvantGard provides chief financial officers and treasurers with real-time visibility into cash flows and increased operational controls around receivables, treasury and payments. AvantGard helps companies drive free cash flow and reduce inefficiencies across the ecosystem of suppliers, buyers, banks and other trading partners. For more information, visit www.sungard.com/avantgard.
About SunGard
SunGard is one of the world’s leading software and IT services companies. SunGard serves more than 25,000 customers in more than 70 countries, including the world’s 25 largest financial services companies.
SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software.
With annual revenue exceeding $5 billion, SunGard is ranked 435 on the Fortune 500 and is the largest privately held business software and services company on the Forbes list of private businesses. Based on information compiled by Datamonitor*, SunGard is the third largest provider of business applications software after Oracle and SAP. Continuity, Insurance & Risk has recognized SunGard as service provider of the year an unprecedented six times. For more information, please visit SunGard at www.sungard.com.
*January 2009 Technology Vendors Financial Database Tracker http://www.datamonitor.com
Trademark Information: SunGard, the SunGard logo and AvantGard are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.