Netzee to Acquire Internet Banking and Bill Payment Businesses From John H. Harland Company

Business Wire, Oct 2, 2000

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 2, 2000

Acquisition will make Netzee one of the largest Internet banking

providers in the United States

Netzee, Inc. (Nasdaq: NETZ), a leading provider of Internet banking products and e-commerce solutions to the financial services industry, has agreed to acquire John H. Harland Company's Internet banking and bill payment businesses that Harland acquired in its August 2000 acquisition of Concentrex, the two companies announced today.

Upon signing of the acquisition agreement, Harland also made a $5 million secured loan to Netzee.

Under the terms of the agreement, Netzee agreed to acquire these businesses for 4.4 million shares of Netzee common stock. As a result, Harland, a leading provider of financial software, printed products and direct marketing to the financial institution market, will have a 17% ownership interest in Netzee.

A conference call to discuss this release is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 2, 2000 at 10:00 a.m. ET. The number to call for this interactive teleconference is 800-482-2225, reservation number 826377. A playback of the call will be available from 12:00 p.m. ET on Oct. 2 through 12:00 p.m. ET on Oct. 4 by calling 800-625-5288, passcode 826377.

"With Harland's investment in Netzee, we now have ownership interest from two well established public companies, Harland and The InterCept Group," said Glenn Sturm, chief executive officer of Netzee. "We believe the combined strengths of Netzee and Harland's Internet banking business, with the financial investments of The InterCept Group and Harland create an unmatched portfolio of Internet-based products and services, employee talent, financial resources and stability," Sturm added. "We have been interested in forging a relationship with Harland for quite some time, and this acquisition became the ideal opportunity."

Netzee believes that upon consummation of the acquisition, Netzee will be one of the largest Internet banking providers in the United States in terms of installed financial institutions. After closing of the acquisition, Netzee will have more than 800 financial institutions under contract with more than 700 actually installed on one of its online banking products.

In addition to increasing the size of Netzee's base of financial institution customers, the acquisition of Harland's Internet banking businesses will strengthen Netzee in a number of ways:

          --  Netzee will have more than 700,000 end users.

          --  Harland's Internet banking and bill payment products
            targeted to large banks and credit unions will give Netzee
            expanded distribution opportunities.

          --  Netzee's in-house bill payment capabilities will be
            enhanced through Harland's state-of-the-art bill payment
            operations, which handle more than 100,000 bill payment
            transactions per month.

          --  Netzee will be able to offer financial institutions the
            choice of an in-house Internet banking solution for those
            institutions seeking to run their own application, as well
            as an ASP model for those institutions seeking a totally
            outsourced solution.

          --  Netzee's customer service capabilities will significantly
            expand with the addition of customer service personnel and
            a customer call center that currently support's Harland's
            online banking business.

          --  Netzee will gain cross marketing opportunities with
            complementary products such as Harland's Marketing
            Customer Information File product (MCIF) and
            Internet-based mortgage and loan products.

"Netzee's strong position in online banking applications provides a platform to maximize the potential of the Harland online banking and bill payment businesses," said Timothy C. Tuff, chairman and chief executive officer of Harland.

The acquisition is expected to close by the end of October 2000 and will be subject to regulatory approval.

About Netzee

Netzee provides financial institutions with an integrated retail suite of Internet-based products and services, including full-service Internet banking, bill payment, cash management, online brokerage, Internet commerce services, online check reordering, custom Web design and hosting, implementation and marketing services. Netzee also provides financial institutions with an integrated wholesale suite of products and services, including regulatory reporting software and financial information tools. The company was founded in 1999 as a subsidiary of The InterCept Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICPT). Netzee became a public company in November 1999 with The InterCept Group presently maintaining a 34% ownership interest. Netzee currently serves over 7,000 institutional customers with one or more of its products. The company's stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol "NETZ." Netzee can be found on the Internet at www.Netzee.com.

This release contains statements which constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements include all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or expectations of Netzee and its management with respect to, among other things: (1) trends affecting our operations, financial condition and business; (2) our growth and operating strategies; (3) whether we can successfully combine the operations we have acquired and operations we may acquire, to create or continue improvements to our financial condition; (4) our ability to develop, test, sell and support new, enhanced and integrated products, services and features in a timely manner or at all; (5) our ability to achieve our sales objectives; (6) the continued and future acceptance of and demand for our products and services by our customers and their customers; and (7) whether our current or future strategic marketing alliances will be successful in generating sales or in improving our business, results of operations or financial condition. The words "may," "will," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "plan," "allow," "strategy" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of risks related to the integration of acquired assets and businesses; the Company's ability to achieve, manage or maintain growth and execute its business strategy successfully; its dependence on developing, testing and implementing enhanced and new products and services; Netzee's ability to sell its products and services to financial institution customers and their customers; Netzee's ability to respond to competition; the volatility associated with Internet-related companies; and various other factors discussed in detail in Netzee's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the "Factors that May Affect Our Future Results of Operations or Financial Condition" section in Netzee's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1999, as filed with the SEC on March 29, 2000, as amended on May 1, 2000, and other periodic reports filed by Netzee under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Netzee undertakes no obligations to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results.