ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Feb. 10, 1999 — TransPoint today announced that e-route inc., a bill presentment consortium of Canada’s largest financial institutions, recently agreed to begin exclusive contract negotiations with BCE Emergis for a seamless electronic-bill presentment solution using technologies from TransPoint and BCE Emergis. E-route inc., which is owned by Mouvement des Caisses Desjardins, Canada Trust, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada, Toronto Dominion Bank Financial Group and Royal Bank of Canada, will begin contract negotiations with BCE Emergis immediately.
BCE Emergis is a leading provider of e-commerce solutions to the Canadian financial services industry. The electronic-bill delivery solution developed for e-route, which combines TransPoint bill presentment software with BCE Emergis’ payment technology, will allow Canadian consumers to securely receive and pay their bills electronically over the Internet. The solution will also allow Canadian consumers to pay bills by telephone.
“This is a huge step toward bringing the tremendous convenience of electronic-bill delivery and payment to Canadians,”
said Warren Dent, senior vice president of marketing and business development for TransPoint.
“This is a pleasing endorsement for both our business model and the superior technology behind our electronic-bill presentment and payment service. We are truly excited to be working with BCE Emergis and e-route to bring this revolutionary service to Canada.”
“In the North American market, according to McKinsey & Company, electronic-bill presentment and payment could save billers, customers and other constituents over $2 billion annually by 2002,”
said Brian Edwards, president and CEO, BCE Emergis.
“By combining TransPoint’s robust, flexible software with BCE Emergis’ powerful payment engine and localized expertise, e-route will give Canadian consumers the opportunity to realize increased value from their relationships with their financial institutions.”
In addition to TransPoint and BCE Emergis technologies, the electronic-bill presentment service developed for e-route will use the Microsoft® Windows NT® Server operating system, SQL Server ™, Internet Information Server and Site Server software supplied by Microsoft Canada. Following successful completion of contract negotiations, e-route will begin a pilot of the service this year, with a full rollout of the service expected in 2000.
About TransPoint
TransPoint is a joint venture of Microsoft Corp. and First Data Corp. The company was formed in June 1997. In early 1999, TransPoint is scheduled to introduce the United States’ first fully electronic, end-to-end system for Internet bill delivery and payment. TransPoint’s service, which will use existing payment systems, will allow consumers to access and pay their bills through the branded home banking services of participating financial institutions and other consumer service providers. TransPoint is based in Englewood, Colo. For more information, visit http://www.transpoint.com/ .
TransPoint is a trademark of MSFDC LLC.
Microsoft and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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