Spectrum Taps Metavante to Provide "Pay-Anyone" Electronic Bill Payment

Business Wire, August 24, 2000

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 24, 2000

Spectrum EBP, L.L.C. a joint venture of The Chase Manhattan Corporation, First Union Corporation and Wells Fargo & Company, today announced a strategic alliance with Metavante Corporation (formerly M&I Data Services) to offer Spectrum participants a "pay anyone" electronic bill payment service.

As part of the arrangement, all three founding members of Spectrum have agreed to use Metavante as a source for "pay anyone" consumer bill payment capabilities. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

With Metavante's proven "pay anyone" capability, Spectrum adds an important component to its full service electronic bill payment & presentment (EBPP) offering. Spectrum has a robust presentment engine in place and is working toward providing participants with a full range of bill presentment and payment services, should they require them. Through the development of a common interface and infrastructure, Metavante's solution will enable customers of Spectrum participants to electronically pay anyone, from established companies to individuals, regardless of whether they have electronic connections.

"Similar in practice to the ATM networks, Spectrum is designed to be a hub that enables financial institutions to route electronic bills and payments through a single connection to other participants," said Ronald Braco, chairperson of the Spectrum board of managers, and senior vice president of Chase. "The addition of the `pay anyone' capability is a significant component of the Spectrum offering. The selection of Metavante to provide that service is highly consistent with the Spectrum philosophy of providing participants with high quality service, value pricing and open technology that will work with their systems no matter what technology they employ."

Including the three founders, 23 financial institutions currently belong to the Spectrum network or have signed letters of intent to participate in the network. Spectrum's three founding institutions together with current and prospective member banks represent over 4.7 million on-line consumers and include 10 of the top 30 credit card issuers nationwide. According to the Tower Group, financial services companies issue 4.3 billion bills annually, representing 31 percent of total annual recurring bills - more than any other industry group.

Spectrum provides a secure, open and interoperable infrastructure to link billers and consumers in order to electronically present and pay consumer bills. Spectrum is committed to implementing an Interactive Financial Exchange (IFX) based next generation bill payment and presentment platform, while maintaining service to participants through the current Open Financial Exchange (OFX) presentment switch. Metavante's common interface software architecture extends Spectrum's commitment to advancing an online bill payment standard based on (OFX)/(IFX) processing capability.

"We believe that our high level of client service and the scalability, flexibility and ability to integrate with a client's existing infrastructure offer significant competitive advantages over alternative bill payment solutions," said Joseph Delgadillo, President & CEO, Metavante Corporation.

Research shows that consumers are interested in receiving and paying bills from their banks. According to a recent survey by Jupiter Communications, 42% of consumers would prefer to receive their bills online from banks, a clear majority over other sources, including portals and personal finance software. In addition, online consumers are three times more likely to use an online bill payment service from a bank than from a dot.com company, according to a recent survey conducted by Insight Express.

About Spectrum

Spectrum is an independent company fully owned by The Chase Manhattan Corporation (NYSE: CMB), First Union Corporation (NYSE: FTU) and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC). Formed to facilitate the exchange of electronic bills and payments, Spectrum's mission is to provide a secure, open and interoperable infrastructure to electronically link consumer and biller service providers. Additionally, Spectrum seeks to provide value to its participants by providing superior service and reducing overall bill presentment and payment costs. Spectrum does not host any bills directly, nor does it retain any bill details. Spectrum can be found on the web at www.spectrumebp.com.

About Metavante

Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., Metavante Corporation, formerly M&I Data Services, is the technology subsidiary of Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (NYSE: MI), a financial services holding company. Metavante delivers financial service expertise, premier customer care and proven technology leadership to the financial services marketplace by coupling 36 years of financial account processing expertise with proven e-commerce leadership. Metavante offers comprehensive online financial solutions for financial service providers and their business and consumer customers. Metavante provides electronic bill payment products and services to over 1,800 financial services providers and is the second-largest provider of electronic bill payment solutions. More information about Metavante Corporation is at www.metavante.com.