Wells Fargo Continues to Attract Corporate Customers With Advanced Payment Processing Technology; Costco Reduces Check Volume and Enhances Vendor Payment Process

Business Wire, Sept 3, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 3, 2002

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) today announced it is providing its corporate customers with a flexible, end-to-end payment solution called Payment Manager with Electronic Document Delivery (EDD). Using the service, Wells Fargo customers can electronically initiate payments and remittance to all their trading partners. Payments can be delivered via the Automated Clearing House (ACH), wires (domestic and international) and checks with the remittance information provided via email attachment, data transmission or fax. Wells Fargo's Payment Manager with EDD provides an online connection between a company's internal systems and the bank's. It is an ideal, relatively low-tech solution for reducing costs and streamlining processes for payments and remittance.

Wells Fargo encourages companies to conduct business electronically among their customers, domestic and foreign trading partners, and financial institutions. Ranked one of the world's leading corporate Internet sites in terms of design and overall integration by Global Finance, Wells Fargo has the resources, experience and technology necessary to help businesses succeed, both online and off. Wells Fargo currently conducts business with 30 percent of the Fortune 500 companies, and is the second largest originator of automated clearing house (ACH) transactions in the United States.

Companies are increasingly looking for ways to pay all of their suppliers electronically, including electronic transmission of remittance information. According to a 2002 study by The Clearing House, currently, only one seventh of all payments are accompanied by enough electronic remittance information for automated reconciliation.

Costco Wholesale Corporation, a Wells Fargo US Corporate Banking customer, worked with Wells Fargo to create a solution that would migrate paper payments to electronic, gain processing efficiencies, while also reducing payment risk. "Since we mail 30,000 checks per month, we needed a solution that would reduce the cost of this process and ensure our suppliers received their payments along with the appropriate remittance advice. With Wells Fargo's electronic payment solution, our trading partners receive their payments with remittance information and we reduce our costs," said Rue Jenkins, Treasury Director from Costco Wholesale.

"Our end-to-end single solution for payments and remittances allows businesses like Costco to reach 100 percent of their trading partners," said Debbie Ball, senior vice president, Wells Fargo Wholesale Services Group. "In the past, companies were limited to only the trading partners that could accept Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) payments with remittance advice. With Wells Fargo's solution, businesses can now reach out to both their technically sophisticated and less advanced trading partners to better meet their business needs."

The Payment Manager/EDD combination will benefit businesses by the following:

-- Save time and money -- Companies can reduce expensive processes of manually re-keying information and reconciling accounts, as well as reduce the costs associated with administration by using their existing accounts payable system to generate one payment file.

-- Reduce fraud -- Companies reduce the risk for fraud by electronically initiating the payment, leaving no chance for checks to get lost, stolen or altered. With electronic payments, customers can rest assure that their payment will go to the intended recipient.

-- Improve trading partner relationships -- By offering a variety of payment remittance delivery options for a variety of payment options, customers can reach 100 percent of their potential trading partners. Trading partners can use their existing accounts receivable systems to receive and process these payments.

-- Provide more flexibility -- Customers can send payments to their trading partners via multiple methods, including ACH, wires (domestic and international) and checks, where the remittance information is sent to the trading partner via fax, email attachment, or data transmission, allowing greater flexibility for whichever format the trading partner desires.

ABOUT WELLS FARGO & COMPANY

Wells Fargo is a $315 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.