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Strategies & Market Trends : Stock Watcher's Thread / Pix of the Week (POW) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stock Watcher who wrote (25550)	2/4/2000 9:34:00 AM
From: Francois Goelo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 52051

S.W, MRTO: MerchantOnline.com Participates in E-Payment Industry Pilot... BOCA RATON, Fla., Feb 4, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- MerchantOnline.com (OTCBB:MRTO) and (Berlin MH6), a leader in providing secure credit and debit card processing for Internet "e-tailers" is the newest member of an industry group tasked to create industry standards for making secure ATM card payments over the Internet. A pilot program is under way by NACHA, the Electronic Payments Association, a trade group representing more than 12,000 financial institutions. MerchantOnline.com now sits on the 125-member NACHA Internet Council. "It is important to set industry standards for electronic payments systems that will guarantee safe and secure e-commerce for consumers and for merchants," said Tarek Kirschen, MerchantOnline.com president and CEO. "This will mean worry-free shopping for the growing number of consumers over the Internet, and greatly diminished charge-backs for merchants." NACHA's pilot program will process ATM card payments over many of the nation's ATM networks including Pulse, Maestro, Deluxe and Star System. Internet payment processors such as AmeriNet will select specific merchants for the pilot as the program expands in March. "The benefit of this pilot to consumers is the development of a convenient and secure Internet payment method tied directly to a checking account," said Elliott C. McEntee, NACHA president and CEO. "Merchants would have a guaranteed, low-cost payment mechanism running in real-time. Financial institutions would act as trusted third parties, just as they do every day for other commercial transactions." NACHA develops operating rules for the Automated Clearing House network, commonly used for payments such as direct deposit of payroll and Social Security benefits, and electronic bill payments. In 1998, more than 5.3 billion ACH payments were made, worth over $16 trillion. Founded in December 1997, MerchantOnline.com offers one-stop solutions for merchants who want to set up and maintain a store on the Internet. It provides businesses with real-time secure credit and debit card processing, shopping cart services and online checking transactions. Other public companies involved in payment card processing include American Express (NYSE:AXP), Banc One Corp. (NYSE:ONE), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC), Cybercash (Nasdaq:CYCH), Excite (Nasdaq:ATHM), Ebay (Nasdaq:EBAY), First Union Corp. (NYSE:FTU), Intel (Nasdaq:INTC), MBNA Corp. (NYSE:KRB) and Nova Corp. (NYSE:NIS). Except for historical matter, the matters in this press release for forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements reflect assumptions, involve risks and uncertainties, which might affect the companys business and prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements, which are detailed in the companys public filings with the SEC. For more information, visit www.MerchantOnline.com. Copyright (C) 2000 Business Wire. All rights reserved. Distributed via COMTEX. -0- CONTACT: Fitzgerald Productions, Inc., Coral Springs, Fla. News Media Contacts: Elaine Fitzgerald or John Massey, 954/345-9899 or Investor Relations: Kevin Spencer, 561/997-5828