Item 1A. RISK FACTORS

The Company’s business and the results of its operations are affected by numerous factors and uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control. The following is a description of some of the important risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company’s operations in future periods to differ from those expected or desired.

Our business may be adversely impacted by U.S. and global market and economic conditions. We derive most of our revenue from products and services we provide to the financial services industry. Given this concentration, we may be particularly exposed to the current difficult and unsettled economic climate. If the economic environment remains poor, it may result in significant decreases in demand by current and potential clients for our products and services, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Changes in the banking and credit union industry could reduce demand for our products. Cyclical fluctuations in economic conditions affect profitability and revenue growth at commercial banks and credit unions. Unfavorable economic conditions negatively affect the spending of banks and credit unions, including spending on computer software and hardware. Such conditions could reduce both our sales to new customers and upgrade/complementary product sales to existing customers. The Company could also experience the loss of customers due to their financial failure.

Competition or general economic conditions may result in decreased demand or require price reductions or other concessions to customers which could result in lower margins and reduce income. We vigorously compete with a variety of software vendors in all of our major product lines. We compete on the basis of product quality, reliability, performance, ease of use, quality of support and services, integration with other products and pricing. Some of our competitors may have advantages over us due to their size, product lines, greater marketing resources, or exclusive intellectual property rights. If competitors offer more favorable pricing, payment or other contractual terms, warranties, or functionality, or if general economic conditions decline such that customers are less willing or able to pay the cost of our products and services, we may need to lower prices or offer favorable terms in order to successfully compete.

Security problems could damage our reputation and business. We rely on industry-standard encryption, network and Internet security systems, most of which we license from third parties, to provide the security and authentication necessary to effect secure transmission of data. Computer networks and the Internet are vulnerable to unauthorized access, computer viruses and other disruptive problems. Individual personal computers can be stolen, and customer data media can be lost in shipment. Under state and proposed federal laws requiring consumer notification of security breaches, the costs to remediate security breaches can be substantial. Advances in computer capabilities, new discoveries in the field of cryptography or other events or developments may render our security measures inadequate. Security risks may result in liability to us and also may deter financial institutions from purchasing our products. We will continue to expend significant capital and other resources protecting against the threat of security breaches, and we may need to expend resources alleviating problems caused by breaches. Eliminating computer viruses and addressing other security problems may result in interruptions, delays or cessation of service to users, any of which could harm our business.

If we fail to adapt our products and services to changes in technology, we could lose existing customers and be unable to attract new business. The markets for our software and hardware products and services are characterized by changing customer requirements and rapid technological changes. These factors and new product introductions by our existing competitors or by new market entrants could reduce the demand for our existing products and services and we may be required to develop or acquire new products and services. Our future success is dependent on our ability to enhance our existing products and services in a timely manner and to develop or acquire new products and services. If we are unable to develop or acquire new products and services as planned, or if we fail to sell our new or enhanced products and services, we may incur unanticipated expenses or fail to achieve anticipated revenues.

Consolidation and failures of financial institutions will continue to reduce the number of our customers and potential customers. Our primary market consists of approximately 7,600 commercial and savings banks and 7,600 credit unions. The number of commercial banks and credit unions has decreased because of failures over the last few years and mergers and acquisitions over the last several decades and is expected to continue to decrease as more consolidation occurs.

The services we provide to our customers are subject to government regulation that could hinder the development of portions of our business or impose constraints on the way we conduct our operations. The financial services industry is subject to extensive and complex federal and state regulation. As a supplier of services to financial institutions, portions of our operations are examined by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the National Credit Union Association, among other regulatory agencies. These agencies regulate services we provide and the manner in which we operate, and we are required to comply with a broad range of applicable laws and regulations. In addition, existing laws, regulations, and policies could be amended or interpreted differently by regulators in a manner that has a negative impact on our existing operations or that limits our future growth or expansion. Our customers are also regulated entities, and actions by regulatory authorities could determine both the decisions they make concerning the purchase of data processing and other services and the timing and implementation of these decisions. Concerns are growing with respect to the use, confidentiality, and security of private customer information. Regulatory agencies, Congress and state legislatures are considering numerous regulatory and statutory proposals to protect the interests of consumers and to require compliance with standards and policies that have not been defined.

The software we provide to our customers is also affected by government regulation. We are generally obligated to our customers to provide software solutions that comply with applicable federal and state regulations. Substantial software research and development and other corporate resources have been and will continue to be applied to adapt our software products to this evolving, complex and often unpredictable regulatory environment. Our failure to provide compliant solutions could result in significant fines or consumer liability on our customers, for which we may bear ultimate liability.

The Dodd-Frank Act and related regulations may have an adverse impact on our clients and our business. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) represents a comprehensive overhaul of the financial services industry within the United States, establishes the new federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the “CFPB”) and requires the CFPB and other federal agencies to implement numerous new regulations. At this time, it is difficult to predict the extent to which the Dodd-Frank Act or the resulting regulations will impact our business or the businesses of our current and potential clients. To the extent the regulations negatively impact the business, operations or financial condition of our customers, our business and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected because, among other matters, our customers could have less capacity to purchase products and services from us. We could be required to invest a significant amount of time and resources to comply with additional regulations or to modify the manner in which we provide products and services to our customers. We may not be able to update our existing products and services, or develop new ones, to satisfy our customers’ needs. Any of these events, if realized, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Failures associated with payment transactions could result in a financial loss. The volume and dollar amount of payment transactions that we process is very large and continues to grow. We settle funds on behalf of financial institutions, other businesses and consumers and receive funds from clients, card issuers, payment networks and consumers on a daily basis for a variety of transaction types. Transactions facilitated by us include debit card, credit card, electronic bill payment transactions, Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) payments and check clearing that supports consumers, financial institutions and other businesses. If the continuity of operations, integrity of processing, or ability to detect or prevent fraudulent payments were compromised in connection with payments transactions, this could result in a financial as well as reputational loss to us. In addition, we rely on various financial institutions to provide ACH services in support of funds settlement for certain of our products. If we are unable to obtain such ACH services in the future, that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations. In addition, we may issue credit to consumers, financial institutions or other businesses as part of the funds settlement. A default on this credit by a counterparty could result in a financial loss to us.

An operational failure in our outsourcing facilities could cause us to lose customers. Damage or destruction that interrupts our outsourcing operations could damage our relationship with customers and may cause us to incur substantial additional expense to repair or replace damaged equipment. Our back-up systems and procedures may not prevent disruption, such as a prolonged interruption of our transaction processing services. In the event that an interruption of our network extends for more than several hours, we may experience data loss or a reduction in revenues by reason of such interruption. In addition, a significant interruption of service could have a negative impact on our reputation and could lead our present and potential customers to choose other service providers.

We may not be able to manage growth. We have grown both internally and through acquisitions. Our expansion has and will continue to place significant demands on our administrative, operational, financial and management personnel and systems. We may not be able to enhance and expand our product lines, manage costs, adapt our infrastructure and modify our systems to accommodate future growth.

Our growth may be affected if we are unable to find or complete suitable acquisitions. We have augmented the growth of our business with a number of acquisitions and we plan to continue to acquire appropriate businesses, products and services. This strategy depends on our ability to identify, negotiate and finance suitable acquisitions. Substantial recent merger and acquisition activity in our industry has affected the availability and pricing of such acquisitions. If we are unable to acquire suitable acquisition candidates, we may experience slower growth.

Acquisitions may be costly and difficult to integrate. We have acquired a number of businesses in the last several years and will continue to explore acquisitions in the future. We may not be able to successfully integrate acquired companies. We may encounter problems with the integration of new businesses including: financial control and computer system compatibility; unanticipated costs; unanticipated quality or customer problems with acquired products or services; differing regulatory and industry standards; diversion of management's attention; adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers; loss of key employees; and significant amortization expenses related to acquired assets. To finance future acquisitions, we may have to increase our borrowing or sell equity or debt securities to the public. If we fail to integrate our acquisitions, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. Failed acquisitions could also produce material and unpredictable impairment charges as we periodically review our acquired assets.

The loss of key employees could adversely affect our business. We depend on the contributions and abilities of our senior management. Our Company has grown significantly in recent years and our management remains concentrated in a small number of key employees. If we lose one or more of our key employees, we could suffer a loss of sales and delays in new product development, and management resources would have to be diverted from other activities to compensate for this loss. We do not have employment agreements with any of our executive officers.

If our strategic relationship with IBM were terminated, it could have a negative impact on the continuing success of our business. We market and sell IBM hardware and equipment to our customers under an IBM Business Partner Agreement and resell maintenance on IBM hardware products to our customers. Much of our software is designed to be compatible with the IBM hardware that is run by a majority of our customers. If IBM were to terminate or fundamentally modify our strategic relationship, our relationship with our customers and our revenues and earnings could suffer. We could also lose software market share or be required to redesign existing products or develop new products for new hardware platforms.

If others claim that we have infringed their intellectual property rights, we could be liable for significant damages. We have agreed to indemnify many of our customers against claims that our products and services infringe on the proprietary rights of others. We anticipate that the number of infringement claims will increase as the number of our software solutions and services increases and the functionality of our products and services expands. Any such claims, whether with or without merit, could be time-consuming, result in costly litigation and may not be resolved on terms favorable to us.

Expansion of services to non-traditional customers could expose us to new risks. Some of our recent acquisitions include business lines that are marketed outside our traditional, regulated, and litigation-averse base of financial institution customers. These non-regulated customers may entail greater operational, credit and litigation risks than we have faced before and could result in increases in bad debts and litigation costs.

Failure to achieve favorable renewals of service contracts could negatively affect our outsourcing business. Our contracts with our customers for outsourced data processing services generally run for a period of 3-5 years. Because of the rapid growth of our outsourcing business over the last five years, we will experience greater numbers of these contracts coming up for renewal over the next few years. Renewal time presents our customers with the opportunity to consider other providers or to renegotiate their contracts with us. If we are not successful in achieving high renewal rates upon favorable terms, our outsourcing revenues and profit margins will suffer.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.