Press Release

BankServ Wins Approval for Next-Generation International Money Transfer System

Aug 11, 2004 - SAN FRANCISCO — Global financial messaging co-operative SWIFT voted at its June meeting to accept BankServ Inc. as a certified member service bureau. The approval makes the San Francisco-based financial services company the first in the United States capable of handling both domestic U.S. payments and international money transfers from start to finish in a single automated service bureau process.

Although a number of the nation's largest financial institutions are currently equipped to process all aspects of international wire transfers, most of the nearly 7,000 regional and community banks in the United States are not. BankServ's GFX TurboSWIFT technology, says Chief Technology Officer Randy Gutierrez, will allow even the smallest banks to move money across borders without the added time and expense of maintaining an account at a larger institution.

"We are offering a number of the same services traditionally provided by larger banks, but at a fraction of the price. For community and regional banks, this means quick, cost-effective access to the SWIFT network," Gutierrez said. "Even institutions that are already members of SWIFT can make significant savings on operating costs. This system eliminates the need to have extra people and equipment working only on international transfers."

Effective immediately, institutions eligible for SWIFT membership can sign up to take advantage of BankServ's GFX TurboSWIFT network to process international transactions. By the end of 2004, according to CEO David F. Kvederis, BankServ will have its system fully open to SWIFT members, throughout the world.

"With this system fully up and running, any SWIFT member in the country, from the largest to the smallest, will be able to send international money transfers through us," Kvederis said.

Allan Spalding, SWIFT's business manager for partner solutions, added: "We are delighted that BankServ, an experienced provider of secure, hosted Financial Services, has decided to capitalize on their expertise to vigorously support the worldwide growth of SWIFT. More and more financial institutions and corporations are choosing to adopt SWIFT's secure messaging standards, and BankServ's demonstrated commitment is positive not only for SWIFT, but the financial community as a whole."

BankServ's expansion into the U.S. global money transfer business comes on the heels of its recent acquisitions of London-based Symtec Solutions Ltd., and the TurboSWIFT division of Netik Plc, the No. 2 and 3 providers, respectively, of SWIFT connectivity technology. Between them, the two companies handle SWIFT transactions for nearly 300 banks in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the rest of the world.

About SWIFT

SWIFT is the industry-owned co-operative supplying secure, standardized messaging services and interface software to 7,600 financial institutions in 200 countries. The SWIFT community includes banks, broker/dealers and investment managers, as well as their market infrastructures in payments, securities, treasury and trade. For more information about SWIFT please refer to www.swift.com.