(COMTEX) B: CHECKFREE AND NEW ZEALAND POST LAUNCH ELECTRONIC BILLING
B: CHECKFREE AND NEW ZEALAND POST LAUNCH ELECTRONIC BILLING AND PAYMENT
SOLUTION
ATLANTA, Jul 13, 1999 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- CheckFree (Nasdaq:
CKFR), in partnership with New Zealand Post, has launched a program
that will enable New Zealanders to receive, view and pay their bills
electronically through the Internet. This program is the first
electronic billing and payment offering CheckFree has provided outside
the United States. The system will be in final beta testing during the
next three months and will go into full commercial launch in October of
1999.
Also involved with the program is the Bank of New Zealand, the largest
bank in the country, which provides the payment mechanism and allows
customers to access the system from its home banking system on the
Internet. The initial bills being presented and paid on the Internet
are from Saturn Communications and Bank of New Zealand Credit Cards.
Consumers will be able to make payments directly from their Bank of New
Zealand bank accounts.
Bank of New Zealand Managing Director Mike Pratt said the service would
streamline the bank's credit card billing services. "We are always
looking to the future and to more convenient ways in which customers
can do business with us. The benefit of electronic billing is that it
allows us to extend the range of services we offer and provides
customers with an easy and flexible way to pay bills."
Elmar Toime, New Zealand Post Chief Executive, stated that initial
research on the service indicated interest and demand for electronic
billing and payment services, even from customers who were not
currently connected to the Internet. According to Toime, of those
polled, "some 33 percent with access to a PC and 31 percent of those
without access to a PC indicated they would strongly consider using the
service." Mr. Toime said that because the service would eventually
include most banks and most common household bills, it will provide a
single, secure Internet site where they can decide when and how much to
pay for each bill.
Toime described the service as a "natural extension of the range of
bill production, delivery and payment services New Zealand Post already
provides." In conjunction with its subsidiary Datamail, New Zealand
Post produces in excess of 80 million bills annually, and its shops and
agencies already manage 13 million consumer bill payments annually.
CheckFree has served as consultant on the project from the onset.
CheckFree and New Zealand Post specifically designed the billing and
payment system for the New Zealand market though it is modeled after
CheckFree's existing U.S. operations. Doug Williams, senior vice
president of International Business Development for CheckFree, said,
"New Zealand Post provided CheckFree with an in-country partner that
had solid experience in bill production and payment, as well as the
market presence to bring in other key players like Bank of New Zealand
and make the value chain for the billers and consumers extremely
effective. By working with this group of partners, CheckFree has gained
very valuable knowledge on how to effectively export its business model
outside the United States. This project demonstrates how quickly and
efficiently a billing and payment business can be built and delivered
if you understand who the right partners are and bring them into the
endeavor early."
Williams continued, "We expect that this will become the delivery
system of choice for all major billers and financial institutions in
New Zealand, as well as the preferred method of receiving and paying
bills for consumers across the country."
About New Zealand Post New Zealand Post (www.nzpost.co.nz) is
internationally recognized as providing one of the most efficient and
inexpensive postal services in the world. While it continues the
tradition of carrying and delivering of letters and parcels, New
Zealand Post has responded to customers' growing communications needs
through innovation in the residential, business and international
markets. Today, the company provides communications solutions for a
wide range of people and businesses, using its people and technology to
achieve long-term growth.
New Zealand Post's core business activities are message communication
in letters, distributing courier and parcel items and financial
transactions. It also provides distribution logistics, stamp and
telegram services as well as data processing and mail production. The
company is the fifth largest employer in New Zealand, with nearly 9500
full-time and part-time employees and the 29th largest company in the
country, as measured by annual turnover.
About CheckFree Founded in 1981, CheckFree (www.checkfree.com), the
operating subsidiary of CheckFree Holdings Corp., is the leading
provider of financial electronic commerce services, software and
related products. CheckFree designs, develops and markets services that
enable nearly three million consumers to receive and pay bills over the
Internet or electronically through a variety ofbill aggregation points,
including banks, brokerage firms, portals and interactive content sites
on the Internet, and personal financial management (PFM) software.
CheckFree's range of services and products are focused on enabling
customers to make electronic payments and collections, automate
paper-based recurring financial transactions and conduct secure
Internet transactions. After more than a year of beta testing,
CheckFree launched the nation's first fully integrated electronic
billing and payment solution, CheckFree E-Bill, in March of 1997.
Today, the Company has multi-year contracts with morethan 50 of the
nation's top billers to provide online billing and payment through the
CheckFree distribution network.
Certain of the Company's statements in this press release are not
purely historical, and as such are "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
These include statements regarding management's intentions, plans,
beliefs, expectations orprojections of the future. Forward-looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties, including without
limitation, the various risks inherent in the Company's business, and
other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time inthe
Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 1998, Form
10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 1999, Form 8-K filed May 25, 1999
and the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-3 (No. 333-79695)
filed June 1, 1999, as amended June 15, 1999. One or more of these
factors have affected, and could in the future affect, the Company's
business and financial results in future periods, and could cause
actual results to differ materially from plans and projections. There
can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements made in this
document will prove to be accurate, and issuance of such forward-
looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by the
Company, or any other person, that the objectives and plans of the
Company will be achieved. All forward-looking statements made in this
press release are based on information presently available to
management, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.
SOURCE CheckFree Corporation
(C) 1999 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
prnewswire.com -0-
CONTACT: media, Laurinda Wilson, 678-375-1608,
lwilson@checkfree.com or
investor relations, Tina Moore, 678-375-1278,
tmoore@checkfree.com , both of
CheckFree Corporation
WEB PAGE: nzpost.co.nz
checkfree.com
GEOGRAPHY: Georgia
INDUSTRY CODE: MLM
SUBJECT CODE: PDT
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