Mastercard International Delivers Breakthrough Solution for IFX Messaging

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Mastercard International Delivers Breakthrough Solution for IFX Messaging

Alexandria, VA, and Purchase, NY, February 28, 2001 - MasterCard Remote Payment and Presentment Service (RPPS) and the Interactive Financial Exchange (IFX) Forum today announced that the forum has formally adopted a MasterCard RPPS proposal that will enable transmission of IFX messages through the MasterCard RPPS system. The IFX Forum is an open membership organization committed to the development of a specification for an open and interoperable online financial services marketplace. The solution gives IFX participants access to MasterCard's superior bill payment connectivity and will help accelerate industry acceptance of the IFX specification, providing greatly enhanced messaging capabilities.

"The IFX Forum builds on its members' experience with advanced messaging capabilities. MasterCard RPPS is very happy to be able to provide a comprehensive solution to a difficult challenge," said Cathleen Conforti, vice president, MasterCard RPPS. "The MasterCard solution gives IFX participants an efficient, high-performance connectivity tool and immediate access to approximately 95 percent of the EBPP industry's biller service providers through a single connection. Organizations already connected to MasterCard RPPS will be able to leverage their existing infrastructure, greatly reducing development costs and speeding implementation."

The MasterCard RPPS solution provides the leading method now available in the electronic bill payment and presentment (EBPP) industry for breaking down a single payment file into multiple payment instructions a functionality central to the IFX proposition.

"MasterCard's RPPS solution is a fine example of the productive synergy prevalent in the IFX Forum," said IFX Forum Chair Mark Tiggas. "Our collective expertise provides a universal solution that is being implemented by financial service industry leaders around the world."

Currently, MasterCard RPPS payment files include standard payment information, such as an amount, a name, and an account number. With IFX addenda capability, more information can be included in the file to break the payment down further.

"IFX will provide a powerful tool for capitalizing on the capabilities of electronic delivery channels," said Conforti. "Down the road, MasterCard RPPS members will see many benefits. We're proud to lead the development of this system."

To learn more about MasterCard Remote Payment and Presentment Service (RPPS), please visit http://www.mastercard.com/business/rps/.

About MasterCard International

MasterCard International has the most comprehensive portfolio of payment brands in the world. More than 1 billion MasterCard, Cirrus and Maestro logos are present on credit, charge and debit cards in circulation today. An association comprised of 22,000 member financial institutions, MasterCard serves consumers and businesses, both large and small, in 210 countries and territories. MasterCard is the leader in quality and innovation, offering a wide range of payment solutions in the virtual and traditional worlds. With more than 19 million acceptance locations, no card is accepted in more places and by more merchants than the MasterCard Card. In 1999, gross dollar volume exceeded US$727 billion. MasterCard can be reached through its World Wide Web site at http://www.mastercard.com.

About the IFX Forum

The IFX Forum, open for worldwide participation, was founded to provide a variety of benefits for financial services companies and their customers. IFX Forum members develop open and interoperable specifications that meet the financial services industry business requirements for serving consumer and corporate customers. The mission of the IFX Forum's open membership is to expedite the development and implementation of the IFX specification, which defines the business message format for the electronic exchange of data. To learn more about the benefits of IFX Forum membership, please visit http://www.ifxforum.org/.

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