Scotiabank Delivers Personalized Banking To Online Customers With Epicentric Foundation Server

Business Wire, Nov 27, 2001

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 27, 2001

Technology Enables Scotiabank Customers To Tailor Banking

Services Through Personalized Portals

Epicentric Inc., the leading provider of Business Portal solutions, today announced it has been selected as the Internet Banking platform for Scotiabank, one of North America's premier financial institutions and Canada's most international bank. Scotiabank is using Epicentric's portal solution to provide its customers with an all-in-one Internet banking resource that helps them save time, make well-informed financial decisions and work more effectively with their finances. In addition to being a client, Scotiabank has made a strategic investment in Epicentric through e-Scotia Acquisition Inc., the Bank's e-commerce investment subsidiary. Epicentric's award-winning portal software integrates easily with Scotiabank's existing infrastructure to provide a centrally managed system for delivering customized Internet services to meet the individual needs of customers. With unlimited scalability and universal support for a wide variety of platforms and technologies, Epicentric gives Scotiabank the capability to rapidly adapt the size and scope of its Internet banking to satisfy changing customer needs and market conditions.

"Epicentric's technology provides Scotiabank with the ability to deliver different aggregations of our services from both inside and outside the firewall so we can create a personally tailored Internet Banking experience for each of our customers," said Robert Fournier, vice-president, Technology Infrastructure, e-Scotia, the e-commerce subsidiary of Scotiabank. "This capability offers us a competitive advantage for attracting, retaining and ensuring the satisfaction of our customers."

Utilizing Epicentric technology, Scotiabank customers can create their own personalized Internet Banking portals with the precise combination of Scotiabank's comprehensive range of banking and brokerage services that they require, including account services, online bill payment, loan processing, stock trades, market reports, business services, financial news and analysis from Scotiabank analysts. In addition, Epicentric's delegated administration empowers Scotiabank's business users to take control of portal permissions and content directly from a Web browser, reducing the expense and lag time of custom coding and testing. By optimizing every aspect of Scotiabank's Internet banking portal, Epicentric delivers strategic business benefits that cut costs, maximize efficiencies and offer Scotiabank customers the most cutting-edge services available.

"Epicentric's portal platform is specifically designed to provide customers like Scotiabank with a massively scalable and customizable resource that can thrive in any IT environment and simultaneously serve vastly different groups of end users," said Michael Crosno, CEO of Epicentric. "Scotiabank places great emphasis on innovative technologies to drive its e-business initiatives and deliver exceptional value to its customers. This is why Epicentric is such a great fit for its Internet banking, and as an investment opportunity."

e-Scotia Acquisition Inc. has made the strategic investment in Epicentric as part of its effort to accelerate the building of forward-thinking companies into market sector leaders.

About e-Scotia and Scotiabank

e-Scotia is Scotiabank's e-commerce subsidiary specializing in e-commerce products, sales, services and investments. Scotiabank is one of North America's premier financial institutions, with more than $271 billion in assets and approximately 51,000 employees worldwide, including affiliates. It is also Canada's most international bank with more than 2,000 branches and offices in more than 50 countries. Scotiabank is on the world wide web at www.scotiabank.com.

About Epicentric, Inc.

Epicentric, Inc. is a leading provider of Business Portal solutions for Global 2000 companies to deliver integrated Web services to their customers, partners and employees. Founded in 1998, Epicentric customers include Altra Energy Technologies, Inc., Autodesk, Bank One, General Electric, Hartford Life, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Lockheed Martin, Motorola, Inc., Scotiabank Group, and the U.S. Postal Service. Epicentric has key alliances with more than 75 companies, including BEA Systems, Documentum, EDS, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Epicentric, Inc. is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and Washington D.C. International operations include offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. For more information visit the company's website at www.epicentric.com.

Note to Editors: Epicentric, Epicentric Foundation Server, Epicentric Connect, and the Epicentric logo are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Epicentric, Inc. All other company names and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or owners.