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October 22, 1999
First Union's Global Cash Management Division Announces First Production Customer for Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment
A total billing solution provided through a single source
CHARLOTTE - First Union's Global Cash Management Division announces that the County of Arlington, Virginia will be the first production customer for First Union's comprehensive electronic bill presentment and payment service.
First Union is the first financial services provider to offer integrated services that enable customers to fully outsource time-intensive activities such as sending bills, collecting payments and processing receivables. Through the combination of payment processing expertise and electronic commerce technology, First Union smoothes the way for billing customers to make the transition from paper to electronic processing.
This total billing solution proves especially useful for large billing entities such as the County of Arlington, Virginia, the first production customer. In this business to consumer relationship, the Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment service will handle all aspects of the billing cycle from electronic presentment of the bill to remittance collection for the County's tax billing needs.
"The Arlington County Treasurer's office has long taken pride in its adoption of advanced technology. Accordingly, we are extremely pleased to have been selected by First Union to implement the most advanced billing and payment system in the nation, a system that will serve as a model to localities in the next century," said County Treasurer Frank O'Leary. "I believe that, given the flexible solutions and excellent quality of First Union's electronic bill processing service, the costs savings and convenience that this system provides to the citizens of Arlington County will be tremendous. Our goal in Arlington is to make the billing process as painless as possible for our citizenry and this electronic solution makes it a reality."
"As the country's second largest electronic commerce initiator, First Union continues our dedication to simplifying treasury management for our customers," said Nina Archer, Executive Vice President and Global Cash Management Division Head. "Our Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment solution addresses every aspect of the billing cycle for our customers, from the initial presentment to payment to the final posting of receivables. This end-to-end process integration translates into savings of time, labor and capital."
For large billing companies such as utilities or telecommunications providers, First Union's service provides them access to a critical mass of consumers through Spectrum, a switching capability that connects billers with nearly three million consumers. First Union designs and builds a biller-branded website, sends out all the bills and collects the remittance information no matter how the payments are made, paper or electronic. First Union then sends the company an electronic file of all remittance data to streamline the receivables postings process.
The benefits for the billing company include substantial cost savings, and value-added customer care as incoming customer calls are reduced due to enhanced online customer service options such as 24/7 email access and the availability of multiple months of billing history. Billers also benefit from increased marketing opportunities, using the billing Web site to cross-sell new products to targeted customers and tailor information to individual segments. They can also sell advertising space.
"This total billing solution enables us to take care of our customers' back room billing operations. Customers can give us all their bills, and First Union will distribute them no matter how the payers elect to receive them - either through a biller-branded website created by First Union, via email notification or through Spectrum to a consumer's home banking system," said Mark Havlik, Manager of the Global Cash Management Division's Global Electronics Payments Team.
"We eliminate the expense and difficulty in dealing with multiple third parties to handle billing operations. First Union is the only partner our customers will need for all bill presentment, payment and receivables processing needs."
Electronic commerce, Internet services, nationwide lockbox processing and a variety of PC-based options are among the many cash management services available at First Union. First Union offers a full range of collection, disbursement, information reporting and electronic commerce services designed to improve day-to-day efficiency of company treasury operations and maximize company return on cash assets. First Union's cash management products have earned top marks in surveys by Phoenix-Hecht and Ernst & Young. First Union is the third largest cash management bank in the country, according to Ernst & Young.
First Union (NYSE:FTU) is a leading provider of financial services to more than 16 million customers throughout the East Coast and the nation. At September 30, 1999, First Union had assets of $235 billion and total stockholders' equity of $16 billion. The company operates full-service banking offices in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
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