PORTLAND, Ore. — Fidelity National Information Systems' purchase of Asset Exchange was several months old before it was finally made public, executives with the firm said, adding that they disclosed the purchase at the time to credit union clients and to firms which were making bids to acquire credit union card portfolios.

The card processor and portfolio broker sealed the deal in February, the executives said. The firm would not disclose the monetary terms of the deal or why it was not made public earlier, but said that it had gone to credit unions with which it was working and disclosed the purchase as well as to potential portfolio buyers.

The firm's executives also said they had brokered the sale of portfolios from credit unions which process transactions with FIS after the sale had been made and argued that these brokered sales indicated they could act in an impartial manner even after the FIS purchase.