IFX FORUM REPORTS PRODUCTIVE OUTREACH TO TAIWAN BANKS

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IFX FORUM REPORTS PRODUCTIVE OUTREACH TO TAIWAN BANKS

IFX Message Presented to 35 Financial Institutions

WAKEFIELD, MASS. – Dec. 19, 2005 – Leaders of the Interactive Financial eXchange (IFX) Forum have concluded a successful trip to Taiwan, the Forum today announced. The goals of the visit -- to brief the financial services community there on the value of the IFX standard for electronic exchange of financial transaction data, its current status, and progress on development of new versions – were met, and a foundation was laid for closer ties in the future.

The IFX Forum is a not-for-profit standards-developing organization working to develop a robust framework for the electronic business-to-business exchange of data among financial service institutions around the world. The IFX specification has been implemented by leading organizations in Europe and the Americas, and interest from Asian institutions is strong.

"Our trip to Taiwan was a significant step forward as we continue to cement strong collaborative relationships around the implementation and enhancement of the IFX standard in the Asia-Pacific market," said Richard P. Urban, President of the IFX Forum. "We are very appreciative of the excellent hospitality we received, and we hope to make our thanks concrete by hosting reciprocal visits from our counterparts in Taiwan in future."

The IFX Forum group delivered presentations at the IFX for Banking in Taiwan Conference, a private event organized by the Bankers Association of the Republic of China (BAROC), a member of the IFX Forum since 2001. Forum leaders also met with representatives of individual banks in Taiwan – overall, 35 financial institutions were addressed on the work of the IFX Forum and the IFX standard at the conference and in personal briefings with senior executives of several financial services organizations.

"BAROC adopted the IFX standard for banks in Taiwan to develop e-commerce applications about three years ago," said Ruu-Tian Chang Lawrence, Executive Vice President of Chinatrust Commercial Bank and BAROC's representative to the IFX Forum Steering Committee. Mrs. Chang Lawrence was the primary organizer of the Forum's trip. "We are delighted to learn about the advancement of IFX message development as well as the adoption of this standard in the United States and Europe, and we are impressed with how the large U.S. banks and information technology companies deploy IFX and gain tremendous value. 'IFX for Banking in Taiwan' was inspirational to the Taiwan banking community."

"Financial institutions here in Taiwan appreciated hearing the experiences of leading banks," said Jack Fang, Senior Officer of the Banking Bureau of Taiwan. "Related activities will be encouraged by the Financial Supervisory Commission of the Republic of China. Both users and the financial industry could benefit from the message standard adoption, which we must implement via a complete strategy and a clear vision for the future."

"We were interested to learn how the IFX message standard is being used not only for business-to-business financial data exchange, but also for bank internal systems integration interfaces or message hubs," said Chau-Hsiung Chou, Senior Vice President of the Bank of Taiwan and Chairman of BAROC's Banking Automation Committee. "Here in Taiwan we can leverage IFX to improve middleware platforms in our next-generation IT architecture."

About the IFX Forum Membership in the IFX Forum is open to anyone interested in contributing to the development of open financial standards that harness the power of XML. The IFX Forum is currently organized into the following Working Groups: ATM/POS; Business Banking; Branch Banking Services, Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment; and Web Services. IFX Forum Working Groups, in concert with an Architecture Committee to coordinate their efforts, develop open Internet-compatible messages for all sectors of the financial services industry. To learn more about IFX Forum standards or the benefits of IFX Forum membership, please visit www.IFXForum.org.

For further information: Judith Vanderkay Virtual, Inc., (781) 876-6208 jvanderkay@virtualmgmt.com

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