US Bank to acquire Schneider payment services

MINNEAPOLIS & GREEN BAY, Wis.–US Bank, the lead bank and subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp and Schneider National, Inc., have announced that US Bank will purchase Schneider Payment Services (SPS), a division of Schneider National, Inc.

The acquisition is anticipated to close on July 1, 2006, at which time the new business will operate as U.S. Bank Freight Payment Services, rounding out PowerTrack’s ability to service freight payment customers by adding a fully-managed solution.

PowerTrack has traditionally focused on technology that can be used internally within a company to automate the pre-payment audit process, facilitating fast, accurate electronic payments.

The acquisition adds in excess of $7 billion in freight payments to the PowerTrack portfolio. In addition, Schneider Logistics will utilize U.S. Bank Freight Payment Services and PowerTrack as the payment provider for its customers in North America. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

“We are excited about adding the experience of 200 freight payment professionals to the PowerTrack team,” said Kevin Armstrong, senior vice president and general manager for PowerTrack. “In addition, PowerTrack will add the capability to provide a fully-managed freight payment solution for our customers as well as the ability to handle larger volumes of paper invoices.”

“This purchase is significant not only because it makes us the world’s leading provider of freight payments, but also because the purchase supports U.S. Bank’s strategy to build fee-based revenue opportunities from our payments businesses and opens a new stream of business opportunity as we offer our full suite of payment and banking services to these customers,” said Robert Abele, president of U.S. Bank Corporate Payment Systems.

“Schneider Payment Services has achieved wide recognition as a leader in the North American freight audit and payment marketplace and has created great value for its diverse customers. We believe this transaction will create a clear leader in the freight audit and payment business and will create great opportunities for the associates and customers,” said Chris Lofgren, president and CEO of Schneider National, Inc.