MCI AND NATIONAL AUTOMATED CLEARING HOUSE ASSOCIATION INTRODUCE RAPID-EDI FOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS; Cost-effective service enables banks to provide electronic payment information directly to their business customers via fax, e-mail or EDI and text file transfer

Business Wire, April 15, 1996

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 15, 1996--MCI and the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) announced today the commercial availability of RAPID-EDI, a cost-effective electronic commerce service designed specifically for financial institutions. The new service will enable banks to rapidly communicate electronic payment and remittance information to their business customers in a variety of ways -- by fax, electronic mail, or EDI and text file transfer. The announcement was made at the annual NACHA conference being held here.

By using RAPID-EDI, financial institutions will be able to provide EDI services to their business customers without having to invest in additional capital equipment. Businesses can use the remittance information to match payments with invoices and update accounts receivable.

RAPID-EDI performs three basic functions: RAPID*EDI selects just the appropriate transactions for the business customer from the full banking file; translates the transactions into either an EDI or human-readable format depending on the business customer's preference; and delivers the information to the business customer as a fax, an electronic mail message, or as a binary file.

"This service enables every financial institution in the country that receives automated clearing house payments to become EDI capable in a cost-effective manner," said Maggie Scarborough, senior director, Network Products Group of NACHA. "Now all financial institutions will be able to provide their business customers with rapid delivery of electronic payment and remittance information."

"Financial institutions of all sizes can enable their customers with high quality, flexible, financial inter-enterprise solutions," said Stephen Von Rump, vice president of marketing, MCI Enterprise Network Solutions. "In addition, RAPID-EDI customers have the flexibility of choosing, on an account-by-account basis, to deliver the financial information directly to their business customers or to utilize automated delivery through MCI's premier messaging network via fax, electronic mail, or EDI and text file transfer."

Financial institutions can choose any of several different options available with RAPID-EDI. The first is the Total Network Solution. Using this option a financial institution can send a copy of their automated clearing house (ACH) file to MCI's EDI-Net service. MCI will translate the file out of ACH format, into either EDI or human readable output, then deliver the information to the business customer via, fax, file transfer or e-mail. MCI can deliver RAPID-EDI remittance information to all interconnected e-mail systems including the Internet.

The next option is software, called On-Site DOS and On-Site Windows. These solutions provide a financial institution with either DOS or Windows-based software which allows the institution to perform all of the translation and delivery alternatives directly from its own location.

The third option available is a combination of software and network services. The financial institution will still have the ability to perform the functions locally, as with the On-Site solutions, but also has the option to send some of the data to MCI's EDI-Net for automated delivery to business customers.

Approximately 1,000 out of 12,000 banks in the U.S. are capable of handling the electronic remittance information which typically accompanies payment instructions. The financial EDI solution developed by MCI, RAPID-EDI, will enable financial institutions who receive these electronic remittances to translate and deliver that information to their business customers in a timely and cost effective manner. RAPID-EDI will be made available to financial institutions through cooperative marketing efforts of MCI, NACHA and local ACH associations.

The RAPID-EDI initiative is part of MCI's recently announced Enterprise Network Solutions initiative -- a comprehensive strategic initiative that combines single-source, integrated network products and services with new levels of interoperability and expertise in addressing complex business information and communications requirements. This new initiative from MCI combines premier network capabilities and an innovative solutions approach into a single-source strategy for meeting business needs.

NACHA is a non-profit trade association that forms the cooperative foundation for the automated clearing house (ACH) payments system through a network of 38 ACH associations nationwide. Transactions processed through the ACH Network include direct payment and EDI transactions, as well as payments for direct deposit of payroll, dividends, pensions and annuities. The ACH payment mechanism currently processed over 3.4 billion transactions a year through low cost, efficient funds transfer for more than 14,000 financial institution members, serving over 500,000 corporations and millions of consumers.

MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is one of the world's largest and fastest growing diversified communications companies. With annual revenue of more than $15 billion, MCI offers consumers and businesses a broad portfolio of services including long distance, wireless, local access, paging, Internet software and access, information services, outsourcing, business software, advanced global telecommunications services, and music distribution and merchandising. -0- NOTE TO EDITORS: RAPID-EDI is a service mark of NACHA and is used by MCI under license.