Wells Fargo Introduces New International Currency Payment Processing Service to U.S. Companies

Business Wire, Nov 7, 2002

Business Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 7, 2002

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) today announced a new international currency service, allowing U.S. companies to securely process and settle online sales transactions in the British pound and Euro using Wells Fargo's integrated payments processing service. Internet payment service PayPal is the first Wells Fargo customer to use the new service.

"PayPal recently launched a multi-currency product which enables members to receive and hold funds in both Euros and Pounds," said Todd Pearson, PayPal senior vice president of financial services. "Wells Fargo's new service is a key component of that product, allowing PayPal to authorize and settle credit card transactions in those currencies rather than requiring additional currency conversion."

"Customer demand has been our best indicator for this service," said Debra Rossi, executive vice president of Wells Fargo's Business Internet Services. "Research shows customers prefer to shop and buy in their own currencies. Prior to our offering, corporations had limited solutions to process and settle online transactions in multiple currencies. As their international business grows the need for a more integrated and efficient international payment settlement solution has become more urgent. Our new international currency service provides a wide-ranging and flexible solution for the business need."

The Internet has created a new source of customers and sales growth for U.S. based companies. Wells Fargo' new international currency service leverages its leadership and focus on payments, small business and Web development. Companies will find this service to be a comprehensive processing solution, including both domestic and multi-currency processing. In addition to British pounds and Euros, later this month Wells Fargo will offer processing and settlement in the Canadian dollar.

Using Wells Fargo's new service, U.S. companies can expand their businesses to international markets without setting up complicated separate banking relationships with foreign banks, and they can better reach out to local markets by pricing products in local currencies. By using this new service, no foreign exchange conversion is needed since the funds are settled in the local currency -- providing a less expensive payment solution and allowing companies to focus on sales growth. Reporting is customizable for the corporation; Wells Fargo supplies the data in a standardized format for merchants to import the data into their internal accounting and reporting systems.

Wells Fargo currently maintains a 95-99 percent market share of the personal payments market. Wells Fargo is a leader in B2C with its e-commerce processing accounting for 11% of the nation's total, according to the Department of Commerce. Its e-commerce sales grew 44 percent over the last year as compared with the national average of 19 percent.

Wells Fargo recognized the tremendous need for this service based on customer feedback and research. Analysts are predicting continued strong growth for e-commerce and online sales this holiday season and in the future.

- eCommerce in Western Europe is expected to reach $30 billion this year (US dollars) and is expected to increase to $138 billion (US dollars) by 2006. (source: Forrester Research, December 2001).

- By 2005, 100 million Europeans will spend 173 billion Euros shopping online. (source: Forrester Research, October, 2002)

- Most estimates show the B2C online commerce growth in Europe to grow 3-5 times between 2002 and 2005.

The service is available to companies who use Wells Fargo online payment processing.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $334 billion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance from more than 5,600 stores and the Internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and elsewhere internationally.