PRBC Closes Equity Funding, Installs New CEO

PRBC's Chairman and Founder, Michael Nathans, further announced that PRBC has hired Corey Stone, formerly Vice President of Business Development at CheckFree and Executive Vice President of American Payment Systems, as Chief Executive Officer.

Participating investors include Total Technology Ventures (TTV), the Omidyar Network, The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), and ACCION International. Atlanta-based TTV provides capital primarily to early and expansion stage financial technology companies with unique business propositions and exceptional growth opportunities. Established in June 2004 by Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, and Pam Omidyar, Omidyar Network invests in areas such as microfinance, open source, citizen journalism and collaboration in the sciences; its goal is to catalyze a new breed of business for which social impact directly drives profitability. ACCION International is a world pioneer in microfinance; it was among 25 organizations awarded the 2006 Social Capitalist Award by Fast Company magazine. CSFI is the foremost organization in United States assisting the financial services industry with underbanked business strategy.

"We are pleased that our investors have recognized PRBC's potential," said Nathans. "As more and more lenders understand the usefulness of alternative credit data, we believe that PRBC, as a pioneer in setting standards for reliability and accuracy, and building predictive models of loan performance, is positioned to become the country's foremost alternative data credit bureau. Under Corey's leadership, we look forward to better serving the growing number of lenders who are underwriting mortgages and other loans using PRBC data."

"PRBC has created a unique business proposition by enabling consumers to prove their creditworthiness simply by paying their monthly bills on time," said Stone. "I look forward to working with Michael Nathans and his team to support the millions who will benefit through greater access to credit at more affordable rates, as well as the companies both large and small seeking to acquire them as customers."

PRBC delivers credit reports and scores based on consumers' patterns of recurring payments for rent, phone, utilities and other non-credit payments, offering lenders a method of reliably evaluating the creditworthiness of the 50 million U.S. consumers about whom too little is known to generate a "FICO Score" or other common credit assessment. It was one of the first organizations identified by CFSI as having the potential to help the financial services industry acquire and serve underbanked consumers; CFSI facilitated the introduction between PRBC and Mr. Stone, and introduced some of the investors.

Commented CFSI's Director, Jennifer Tescher, "Developing usable alternative credit data and the means to collect, analyze and distribute it is crucial to improving credit access to the underbanked. We believe Corey Stone's experience will be an asset to PRBC as it moves into its next stage of development, and we anticipate great things from it in the future."

Corey Stone joined CheckFree in 2004 when it acquired American Payment Systems, which at that point was the country's largest processor of in-person bill payments for telephone and utility customers. As Executive Vice President, Stone spearheaded APS' revenue growth through expansion of its retail footprint, introduction of new products, and acquisitions. He previously worked for more than a decade at Easton Consultants serving financial institutions such as Citigroup, MasterCard and Wachovia. He will be based in PRBC's new executive office in New Haven, Connecticut.