Tuesday October 1 9:05 AM EDT
Home Financial Network, Affinity Technology Form Strategic Alliance
Partnership to Develop PC & Internet Software for Home Banking, Expand Respective Customer
Bases
WESTPORT, Conn. and COLUMBIA, S.C., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Home Financial Network, Inc., (HFN) and Affinity
Technology Group Inc today announced the formation of a strategic partnership to develop a series of automated loan
products for the consumer market. The companies plan to link HFN's Home ATM software with Affinity's Decisys/RTSM
decision support system financial-services automation software.
The alliance will provide bank processors and electric bill-payment providers -- such as Visa Interactive, Checkfree, and
Integrion -- and financial institutions with a new generation of home-banking PC software and Internet solutions. HFN's
easy-to-use Home ATM interface makes it simple for bank customers to fill out a consumer loan application at home, on-line,
and send it to the bank. Affinity's versatile Decisys/RTSM software lets the institution apply its underwriting rules and
identity/credit verification parameters to the application and respond while the customer is still on-line.
"Our partnership with Affinity broadens the portfolio of products that financial institutions can deliver directly to their customers
through home banking software," said Eric T. Jacobsen, president and COO of Home Financial Network. "Using Affinity's
Decisys/RTSM engine to help process retail financial services, and HFN's customer-preferred user interface, we can now
increase financial institutions' opportunities to expand their consumer lending base."
Jeff A. Norris, President and CEO of Affinity, stated: "We're proving the market for our technology right now -- working with
successful companies that have established relationships, such as that with the IBM Integrion network, which complement our
own. This partnership shows how Affinity can use indirect channels and multiple alliances in order to drive traditional financial
institution demand for finance without borders -- in the home, at an ATM, over the phone, wherever."
Norris continued, "We're extremely pleased with our plan to work together with HFN to create and market consumer
software for PCs and the Internet. HFN is a well-known provider of high-quality mass-market applications and their products
have real value for lenders and consumers."
About Home Financial Network
HFN is a leading developer of PC software and Internet applications that enable financial institutions to deliver
private-branded electronic financial services to their customers at home. The company's Home ATM product line takes the
universal experience of an ATM and transfers it to the consumer's desktop at home. Program screens look and work just like
the typical ATM that consumers already know how to use, and are fully customized to reflect the banks' proprietary brand and
brand image.
Home ATM Banking provides consumers with a wide range of account management and transactional capabilities, including
account look-up, statement retrieval, balance inquiry, and funds transfers between accounts. With advances in smart card
technology, consumers will soon be able to perform the most important task of all: retrieving "electronic cash" directly from
their personal computers.
Home ATM Bill Pay allows consumers to pay all of their bills quickly, efficiently and hassle free. Unlike high-end personal
finance programs, which force consumers to perform a laundry list of time-consuming tasks such as budgeting, income and
expense tracking and account reconciliation as part of the bill payment process, Home ATM Bill Pay's singular focus is getting
one's bills paid as quickly as possible with no fuss. It's elegant user interface and visual metaphors make electronic bill payment
as easy as writing a check -- but ten times faster.
In addition to the loan products announced today, future Home ATM products under development and due for release in
1997 include Home ATM Insurance and Home ATM Brokerage.
About Affinity
Affinity Technology Group, Inc. is a leader in sophisticated, consumer- friendly automation for the consumer finance industry.
Decisys/RTSM, Affinity's proprietary technology, is a "closed loop" decision support system that enables a financial institution
to automate fully the processing and closing of virtually any consumer financial service.
The Company is developing more powerful applications for this technology offering an even wider range of financial products,
including consumer insurance and home mortgages. With upcoming enhancements, all of the products and services driven by
Affinity's technology will enable financial institutions to offer their products to consumers through every delivery channel, be it
the Internet, PCs, telephones, branches, ATMs, or Affinity Automated Loan Machines (ALMs), the Company's first product.
Driven by Affinity's unique proprietary Decisys/RTSM technology, the Affinity ALM can receive and process loan applications
and other transactions (including joint loans, auto loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, as well as opening new checking
accounts and getting approval for credit cards) in as little as 10 minutes. Similar in appearance to ATMs, Affinity ALMs can
be deployed anywhere, providing access to consumers and generating assets for the financial institution 24 hours a day, 365
days a year.
Formed in January 1994, Affinity Technology Group, Inc. is based in Columbia, S.C. It completed its first public offering on
April 26, 1996. Current customers include NationsBank, First Union, Union Planters, Banco Popular and Bank One. Affinity's
unique proprietary Decisys/RTSM technology is a "closed loop" decision support system that lets lenders fully automate the
processing and closing of virtually any consumer financial service. SOURCE Home Financial Network, Inc. and Affinity
Technology Group, Inc.
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