2013 Business Class Honoree: Jack Henry & Associates Inc.

There’s a new buzzword around the Jack Henry & Associates Inc. (Nasdaq: JKHY) Monett headquarters: billion.

In fiscal 2012, the banking software provider crossed the billion-dollar threshold with $1.02 billion in revenues. And in the first half of 2013, Jack Henry has secured four financial institutions as clients each with $1 billion in assets.

The new clients span the coasts – a bank and a credit union in Washington, and credit unions in Indiana and North Carolina – and they represent more than $8 billion in combined assets. Jack Henry is providing the clients core technology services such as its Symitar data processing system that already is networked at more than 750 credit unions.

Symitar, developed through an acquisition in 2000, is one of Jack Henry’s three marketed brands, along with a banking division that integrates data systems for more than 1,330 banks, and ProfitStars, a specialized platform to generate revenue growth, reduce operational risks and control operating costs.

In all, Jack Henry works with nearly 12,000 financial institutions and corporations.

Company executives have pointed to electronic payment processing and outsourcing services as drivers of revenue growth.

“As more customers rely on us for their outsourcing needs, Jack Henry & Associates invested in our disaster recovery/business continuity (plan) by developing a secure facility in The Mountain,” Chief Financial Officer Kevin Williams says of the 3 million-square-foot storage and server facility located 175 feet underground and drilled out of a dolomite mountain in Branson.

Billion-dollar clients aren’t entirely new for Jack Henry.

The firm claims more than 35 percent of U.S. credit unions with more than $1 billion in assets are now automated by its Episys platform.

Also, its banking software is integrating systems at institutions with up to $30 billion in assets, considered banking’s middle tier.

Last year, the company was recognized by American Banker as No. 18 on the annual FinTech 100.

While revenues increased by 6 percent in 2012, the publicly traded company grew profits by 12.7 percent last year. Jack Henry has posted double-digit profit percent growth the last three years.

In light of the revenue milestone, company executives have rolled out a community challenge to staff.

“Because it took 36 years for our company to generate $1 billion in revenue, we are challenging every associate to volunteer 36 hours between Aug. 1, 2012, and June 30, 2013, to charitable causes and organizations,” Williams says.[[In-content Ad]]