News Release
| National City Selects BillingZone for B2B Invoice Presentment and Payment Services |
EIPP Consolidation Service to its Corporate Customers CLEVELAND, Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- National City Corporation (NYSE: NCC), one of the nation's largest financial holding companies, and BillingZone, LLC, the leading provider of business-to-business (B2B) invoice consolidation, today announced that National City intends to offer the BillingZone(TM) B2B electronic invoice presentment and payment (EIPP) service to its corporate clients as part of National City's growing suite of e-commerce and advanced accounts receivable (lockbox) solutions. "Our strategic alliance with BillingZone enables us to expand the relationships we have built with our corporate clients and become a critical link in processing B2B transactions," said Paul Markovic, National City's senior vice president of electronic banking solutions. As a result of the new strategic relationship with BillingZone, National City's corporate clients will be able to present invoices electronically to their customers, who will then be able to review, approve, and pay each invoice. The payments will be received electronically into a National City lockbox. National City corporate clients will be able to benefit from the expedited revenue collection process, improved customer service, and reduced costs associated with the invoicing and payment process. "Our lockbox clients will have access to a single solution for all of their billing, payment, and collection needs," said Mary Ann Francis, National City's senior vice president of treasury product solutions. "We are automating and streamlining tedious paper processes across a company's financial supply chain." The customers of each National City corporate client will also have the option to manage their accounts payable process through sophisticated web- based tools and complete integration into their existing payables system. National City also has plans to become both a payer and issuer using BillingZone. "We are very excited about our new relationship with National City, one of the nation's leading cash management banks. We believe it underscores many aspects of BillingZone's business model and complements many of the innovative payables and receivables solutions National City can offer its clients," said Eric Smith, president and chief executive officer of BillingZone, LLC. "Our relationship with National City highlights our desire to partner with those companies that can help bring a critical mass of billers and payers to EIPP." When its relationship with National City is finalized, BillingZone's services will be available through four of the largest cash management banks in the U.S., in addition to many other distribution channels. It will also bring the number of participating payment and remittance processing banks within the BillingZone network to nine including seven of the ten largest originators of electronic payments. About National City Corporation National City Corporation (NYSE: NCC) is a $96 billion financial holding company headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. National City operates banks and other financial services subsidiaries principally in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Indiana. National City subsidiaries provide financial services that meet a wide variety of customer needs, including commercial and retail banking, consumer finance, asset management, mortgage financing and servicing, and item processing. National City can be found on the World Wide Web at www.nationalcity.com . About BillingZone, LLC BillingZone, LLC, offers a business-to-business electronic invoice presentment and payment service that provides businesses a consolidated model for presenting, reviewing, and paying invoices on the Internet. The BillingZone(TM) service is expressly designed to meet the needs of corporate billers and payers and provides payers with the convenience of paying multiple invoices from participating billers at one site. BillingZone helps companies streamline the complexity of invoicing and payment processes, realize cost savings by eliminating paper and manual processes, and speed up the communication between companies and their customers. P&G, Diebold, Xerox, and Saint-Gobain Corporation are just some of the companies recognizing significant benefits through their use of the BillingZone service. BillingZone, LLC, is a joint venture of two industry leaders, PNC Bank, N.A., a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC), and Perot Systems Corporation (NYSE: PER). Please contact BillingZone, LLC at (412) 705-3000 or via e-mail at info@billingzone.com . Additional information is available on the company's web site at www.billingzone.com . BillingZone, BillingZone.com and the BillingZone logo are trademarks of BillingZone, LLC. This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act with respect to BillingZone's anticipated business, including statements regarding the expected development and benefits of products. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "position," "potential" and "continue," by future or conditional verbs such as "can," "will," "would," "should," "could" and "may," or by similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, all of which change over time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and BillingZone, LLC, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. and Perot Systems Corporation assumes no duty to update forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements: BillingZone's ability to continue the development, introduction, and implementation of its electronic invoice presentation and payment service as planned; entry into a definitive agreement between BillingZone and National City regarding the described offering of BillingZone's products and services; the degree to which billers and payers accept electronic invoice presentment and paying in general and BillingZone's service in particular; BillingZone's ability to attract and to maintain a critical mass of billers using its service; the loss of key personnel; changes in the competitive market in which the service will operate; the impact, extent, timing, and cost of technological changes; risks associated with the commercial use of the Internet generally; undetected software bugs; possible product liability claims; possible inability to protect proprietary technology; and possible infringement claims. BillingZone is a start-up business and, as such, has risks associated with the development of a new market, product development, and the recruiting and retention of employees. Additional factors that can affect forward-looking statements are identified in the respective SEC Reports of the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. and Perot Systems Corporation, which reports are accessible on the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov . MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - Click Here http://tbutton.prnewswire.com/prn/11690X32848853 |
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| "Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding National City Corp.'s business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year. |