In the case of VIFI, it was formed by the entrepreneurial Dave Becker. Becker was a senior consultant with the Indiana CU League prior to starting credit union data processor re:Member Data in 1981. He formed VIFI in 1995. Becker is the chairman and CEO of VIFI and CEO of re:Member Data. He founded both firms and is the sole owner of both firms.

Becker said VIFI was at a crossroads of sort. While the company reached profitability in 2001 and added to its client list, to continue growing the business it probably needed to go outside to get capital, said Becker.

"Being small was great. We kept hitting customers with innovation, but we were hitting a little bit of a wall. Do we continue to develop internally and look for outside capitalization, or merge with another leader?" said Becker.

Dale Walker, president/COO of Digital Insight, said DI spent 2001 getting its house in order so it could come out in 2002 and make acquisitions in what the company believes has become a very fragmented Net banking space.

"We thought the space was ripe for further consolidation. No. 1 on our list was VIFI. Turns out John Dorman, our CEO, and Dave knew each other for a long time. We're absolutely delighted," said Walker.

Walker said VIFI was one firm DI saw a lot in the proposal process in credit union land. This obviously takes away one of its fiercest competitors, said Walker.

DI has gobbled up competitors before. Its largest acquisition was of nFront, which at the time had about the same number of Net banking clients as DI had.

Credit Union Times spoke with Becker and Walker from VIFI's Indianapolis headquarters where there were a lot of unanswered questions. Both execs said it was much too early to give many details on how the operations will be merged. Whether or not VIFI's Indianapolis facility would remain in operation had not been decided, nor had the future of VIFI president Mike Winter and the rest of the VIFI staff. A transition team will be working over the next couple of weeks to begin ironing out those details.

Becker said it would be business as usual for VIFI clients, but he did not elaborate on what that meant in terms of contracts once the deal is completed.

Over the last 24 months VIFI had launched a number of new products, including online brokerage, wireless, cash management services for businesses and others. Becker said there had been no discussion as to what the future of those product sets are.

The deal is expected to close in first quarter 2002. The $51 million deal includes Digital Insight common stock, $3.75 million in cash and a promissory note for $3.75 million.

Becker said the VIFI deal has nothing to do with re:Member Data, as they are completely separate companies.

VIFI and re:Member Data aren't Becker's only ventures, he's also Chairman and CEO of First Internet Bank of Indiana (www.firstib.com). As of June 30, 2001 that was a $235 million Internet bank. Becker remains in his chairman and CEO spot at the bank, which like Becker's other companies is based on providing high-tech services.

While First Internet Bank of Indiana is the first state-chartered, FDIC-insured institution to operate solely over the Net, it has customers across the nation, and has gained national recognition. Earlier this year it ranked No. 2 in a Gomez Internet bank scorecard, putting it behind Citibank and ahead of Wells Fargo and Bank One. It was the only bank with no brick and mortar facilities to crack the top 4.

Becker has sold a business before. He founded re:Member Marketing in 1992, and sold it in 1997.

Walker said Net banking remains DI's most important business line, but it also focused on cash management solutions for businesses, online lending, aggregation, call centers, and other areas. Credit union clients of AnyTime Access will remember a couple years back when DI acquired it to break into that area. [email protected]