Bank of America, Chase Manhattan Bank, Citibank, First Technology Credit Union, KeyBank, Wells Fargo and Woodforest National Bank are the first financial institutions to join the Banking Steering Committee. Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab and Dean Witter form the foundation of the Brokerage Steering Committee. Home Financial Network, MECA, Peachtree and Vertigo are the first financial applications companies to join the Financial Applications Steering Committee.

Steering committees for bill presentment and financial planning, which will be supported in a revision to the Open Financial Exchange specification planned for later this year, are in organization. Steering committees will also be formed to support the interests of insurance companies, server vendors, service bureaus and the international online financial services community.

The process that generated input from hundreds of financial institutions and technology companies when we first developed the Open Financial Exchange specification, is now formalized with the creation of these steering committees, said Bill Harris, executive vice president of Intuit. The committees will help ensure the specification remains a reflection of the industry it was designed to support.

The involvement of leading banks, brokerage firms and client software companies is an important affirmation of the industry's support for Open Financial Exchange, said Lewis Levin, vice president of Microsoft's Desktop Financial Division. Each of these leaders has a stake in the success of OFX and will play an increasingly valuable role in shaping its future development.

Open Financial Exchanges convergence with the GOLD Standard as well as support for new functionality, such as for bill presentment and financial planning, will be defined in close concert with financial institutions, said Pete Kight, CEO of CheckFree. This is the sure path to broad industry adoption and achieving our collective goal of accelerating the growth of online financial services.

The charter members of each steering committee will establish governance, including the identification of other potential members and setting the size of each committee. There will also be an executive committee made up of the chairpersons of each steering committee, which will provide overall direction for the Open Financial Exchange specification and ensure communication and cross pollination between the respective steering committees.

About Open Financial Exchange
Open Financial Exchange is a unified international specification for the electronic exchange of financial data between financial institutions, business and consumers via the Internet. Created by CheckFree, Intuit and Microsoft in early 1997, Open Financial Exchange supports a wide range of financial activities including consumer and small business banking; consumer and small business bill payment; and investments, including stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Other financial services, including financial planning and bill presentment, will be added in the future and will be incorporated into the specification.

Open Financial Exchange, which supports transactional Web sites, thin clients and personal financial software, streamlines the process financial institutions need to connect to multiple customer interfaces, processors and systems integrators. By making it more compelling for financial institutions to implement online financial services, Open Financial Exchange will help accelerate the adoption of online financial services by financial institutions and their customers.

The Open Financial Exchange specification is publicly available for implementation by any financial institution or vendor, and is being used by CheckFree, Intuit and Microsoft as the primary mechanism for supporting financial data exchange in their products and services beginning later this year. Copies of the specification are available to be downloaded at CheckFree's Web site (www.checkfree.com), Intuit's Web site (www.intuit.com/ofx/) and Microsoft's Web site (www.microsoft.com/finserv).

Quotes from industry leaders participating in the Open Financial Exchange Steering Committees:

Chase Manhattan Bank:
We are delighted to play a role in shaping the course of financial connectivity, and view the steering committee process as an opportunity to provide input and direction into the evolution of the Open Financial Exchange specification.

Michael Papantoniou, vice president, Chase Manhattan Bank

Wells Fargo:
Wells Fargo endorsed Open Financial Exchange at its inception because we viewed it then, as now, as essential to bringing our customers the robust online service they want and need. Our participation on the steering committee gives us the chance to make sure our customers interests are considered prominently in the future development of online financial services and electronic commerce.

Dudley Nigg, executive vice president, Online Financial Services Group, Wells Fargo

First Technology Credit Union:
"The development of the OFX steering committee ensures that financial institutions will continue to have a voice in the future direction of the specification, and we are pleased to be involved in that process."

Brooke Van Vleet, vice president, Online Services & Marketing, First Technology Credit Union

KeyBank:
KeyBank is committed to driving common and open standards to enable a broad array of electronic banking and commerce services. Participation in the Open Financial Exchange steering committees will help us quickly respond to the needs of our customers for simple, hassle-free transactions over the Internet and across a variety of platforms. As an Integrion owner bank, we are particularly pleased with the commitment of Intuit, Microsoft and CheckFree to work together with Integrion to develop a clear, rapid convergence to a single specification standard for 1998.

Patrick J. Swanick, executive vice president, Electronic Commerce Group, KeyBank

Woodforest National Bank:
"The rapid growth of the online financial market demands a standard that financial service providers can build on. Open Financial Exchange delivers with a robust, extensible architecture and broad support in the industry."

Charles Manning, executive vice president, Woodforest National Bank

Bank of America:
Bank of America firmly believes that it is in the best interest of the financial services industry, the technology providers and our customers to have a single public open standards specification in this area. Our goal in joining this steering committee is to proactively ensure that we all work towards the convergence to a single open standard that is robust enough to meet all our business requirements.

Jeanine Brown, executive vice president, Interactive Banking Division, Bank of America

Citibank:
Open Standards are in everyone's best interests. Software developers get the benefit of a level playing field through the elimination of proprietary development standards. Financial institutions like Citibank - and our customers - benefit because we can serve consumers on the platform they select.

Ed Horowitz, EVP, Advanced Development, Citibank

Charles Schwab:
Schwab is proud to contribute to Open Financial Exchange as a member of the steering committee, and pleased to help break new ground for such an important technology. The continued success of the OFX specification is in our customers best interest, in our best interest and in the best interests of the financial services industry.

Bob Taylor, vice president of Electronic Brokerage Product Development, Charles Schwab

Fidelity Investments:
This is an important step toward ensuring that OFX will meet the needs of our customers, and realize its potential of becoming an industry-standard protocol. This is a win-win for customers and their financial institutions. A single industry standard will benefit shareholders by giving them a broader choice of PC tools to use in managing their portfolios, and reduce the cost that is required to support these tools on the part of investment firms.

Bruce Ferland, senior vice president, Retail Electronic Commerce, Fidelity Investments

Home Financial Network, Inc:
"For OFX to thrive as a truly open standard, it is essential to garner participation from all groups with a vested interest in the success of online financial services. We applaud this step and are pleased to have been selected as a founding member of the Financial Applications Steering Committee. We pledge to work diligently on the evolution of OFX by representing the needs of the mass-market banking consumer."

Eric T. Jacobsen, president, Home Financial Network, Inc.

MECA:
"We take our cue from the industry we serve. There is a clear charter to drive toward a unified format for financial services delivery, and this collaboration will help not only to achieve the needed convergence among OFX, GOLD, and other protocols, but ensure a common approach for future extensions and industry growth."

Paul Harrison, CEO, MECA

Peachtree Software:
By participating on the Financial Applications Steering Committee, we can help set standards for OFX which will allow broader participation by both small business customers and financial institutions. We can offer more functionality, while keeping service costs low.

Ron Verni, president, Peachtree Software

Vertigo:
"We are pleased to participate with other industry leaders in the evolution of the OFX standards to facilitate the development and deployment of personalized, intelligent financial advisory, planning and management applications. The net benefit is a more tightly integrated solution for financial institutions and a more powerful experience for their customers." Rob Rosen, president and CEO, Vertigo Development Group.