Wells Fargo Offers Small Business Retailers a New, Integrated Payment Processing Solution That Can Save Them Time and Money

Business Wire, April 17, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 2002

Wells Fargo Offers Small Business Retailers the First

Opportunity to Accept Credit Card Payments Utilizing Wells Fargo

and Intuit's Integrated Technology

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) today announced it is providing small business retailer customers with another method of saving time and money by integrating Wells Fargo's secure, full-service payment service and processing solution with Intuit's new QuickBooks(R) Point of Sale software for retailers. The new QuickBooks POS Merchant Service, powered by Wells Fargo Merchant Services, builds on Wells Fargo's existing, highly successful relationship with Intuit and gives small business retailers an option for accepting credit card payments at the point of sale and automatically loading those transactions from their QuickBooks Point of Sale software into their QuickBooks 2002 accounting software. This eliminates the need for time-consuming manual input, reducing the costs associated with administration and potentially reducing the number of errors made during that process.

"This expanded relationship with Intuit provides small business retailers with an integrated credit card payment solution from two companies they know and trust," said Debra Rossi, executive vice president, Wells Fargo Business Internet Services. "Now small business retailer customers will have the option of accepting credit card payments, utilizing Wells Fargo's secure payment processing technology, either through the QuickBooks accounting software packages as well as the new QuickBooks Point of Sale product."

This marks the first time that real-time payments integration has been available at the point of sale directly into the QuickBooks accounting software. The credit card payment industry benefits from the efforts of two proven leaders committed to further innovations and developments in the small business and payment spaces.

"Small Business retailer customers will especially notice the time and cost saving benefits of this real-time, point of sale credit card payment processing solution," added Rossi. "Instead of worrying about scheduling time to input data and review transactions for accuracy, busy business owners can spend more time concentrating on growing their businesses, and that can lead to better business performance for our customers."

"We are pleased to expand our existing relationship with Wells Fargo to offer QuickBooks Point of Sale customers a fast and reliable means for processing credit card transactions," said Terry Hicks, director, Small Business Services for Intuit. "Managing and tracking sales are mission-critical activities that retailers perform daily. The QuickBooks POS Merchant Service, powered by Wells Fargo Merchant Services, offers our small retailer customers an attractive option for allowing them to efficiently manage credit card sales in one system."

ABOUT WELLS FARGO & COMPANY

With 1.6 million small business customers, Wells Fargo is the largest small business lender in the United States. The Resource Center for Small Business Owners, featuring Wells Fargo Business Online banking, at http://www.wellsfargo.com/biz/ was ranked as top among 90 large- and mid-sized banks by financial services consulting firm, Speer & Associates. In the March 2002 issue of Institutional Investor, which ranks companies for e-finance innovation, Wells Fargo beat all other banks. Wells Fargo is a $308 billion diversified financial services company providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance services through 5,400 stores, its Internet site and other distribution channels across North America as well as internationally.

Intuit, the Intuit logo, and QuickBooks, among others, are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries.