EBA SELECTS CB.NET to PROVIDE OFFICIAL REGISTRY of BANKS COMMITTED to PRIORITY PAYMENTS Submitted By: Cre8 Results Monday, 4 June 2007

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EBA SELECTS CB.NET TO PROVIDE OFFICIAL REGISTRY OF BANKS COMMITTED TO PRIORITY PAYMENTS Submitted by: Cre8 Results Monday, 4 June 2007

CB.Net to Support Priority Payments Initiative Throughout SEPA London, UK, 4 June 2007 – Euro Banking Association (EBAday) – CB.Net, a leading reference data provider, today announced that it has been selected to be the official registry provider for the Euro Banking Association’s (EBA) Priority Payments Scheme (PPS). The PPS Central Repository will be the official registry of banks that have committed to the PPS Business Rules, which aim to enable payments to be credited to client accounts within four hours. CB.Net has developed a centralised repository for the EBA Priority Payment Scheme. The scheme has been developed to offer urgent intra-day, single credit transfers for corporate and retail customers. The enhanced payment transfer service guarantees end-to-end processing of single credit transfers within four hours, instead of the standard three day transaction period for European cross border payments. The PPS Central Repository provided by CB.Net will enable originating banks to confirm which recipient banks are registered and participating in the Priority Payments Scheme. The EBA Priority Payment Scheme, developed with 26 pilot banks from 12 European countries, will be trialled during the next six months to ensure its processes run smoothly. The scheme will be officially launched on 1 January 2008. Participation in the scheme is open to any bank operating in the Single Euro Payments Area. Andrew Foulds, client services manager, CB.Net, comments: “The ability to select a bank that can accept a priority transfer will help participant banks to derive value from the scheme and ensure faster payments, and consequently assist in improving customer service and satisfaction levels. CB.Net is supporting the scheme’s processes by providing the Central Repository which will underpin the scheme.” Banks who have accepted the PPS Business Rules will be able to register their participation in the scheme via the EBA PPS Central Repository website, www.cbnet.eba.info. The database will be available through a lookup tool on the web or by direct download from the site. Rik Wanders, senior consultant new business initiatives, EBA, adds: “Banks are working to meet the requirements of SEPA, which aims to harmonize payments across borders, and this scheme is an essential step towards meeting the objectives of the Directive. SEPA represents an opportunity for banks – by offering the ability to send and receive urgent payments at a national and pan-European level, banks can create a new revenue source from new products and services.” ------End------ Press enquiries to:

Page 1 Nicolle Farthing / Nicki Ferguson, Cre8 Results Limited Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)20 7734 9199 About CB.Net www.cbnet.info CB.Net is a data provider dedicated to the delivery of reference data solutions to the global banking community. Established in June 2000 by a group of ex-bankers and IT professionals, London-based CB.Net recognises the importance of reliable reference data in meeting compliance requirements and bringing cost savings and greater efficiency in international payments. The strategic focus of CB.Net’s Payments Reference Data Service (PRDS) is to develop products and solutions for the international payments industry. CB.Net's flagship product, BankSearchPlus ™, is the definitive global payments reference database, delivering complete international and domestic operational payments data in one single source. BankSearchPlus ™ is available as a web-based query tool and as a data feed directly into back office systems for integration into payments and back office systems. BankSearchPlus ™ helps financial institutions to make payments more efficient and reduce the risk in payment operations. The service delivers accurate and timely bank co-ordinates and other related payment data to enable users to identify and validate information. Updated daily, BankSearchPlus ™ is SEPA ready and compliant, offering complete data solutions for the payments environment today and in the future. BankSearchPlus ™ is a dynamic database, continuously updated containing Standard Settlement Instructions (SSIs) linked to BICs and complete national clearing code sets from over 100 countries. Other BankSearchPlus components include IBAN2BICTM, which validates and links IBANs to the issuing banks and BIChistoryTM – a history of all BICs since Q4 1999. BroadcastAlert is the first service to deliver S.W.I.F.T MT094 Broadcasts direct to operational users via email on a daily basis, while BroadcastSearch is the web based service banks use to streamline access to S.W.I.F.T MT094 Broadcasts. Updated twice daily, BroadcastSearch is a complete online archive of MT094 messages, from January 2000 to date. BroadcastSearch is fully searchable in an easy to use and accessible format – a rich source of operational data. About the Euro Banking Association (EBA) The Euro Banking Association (EBA) is an industry forum with over 200 member banks and associate members from across Europe aimed at fostering and driving pan-European payment initiatives. The initiation and development of cost-effective and efficient euro clearing infrastructures are among the EBA’s core activities and have led in partnership with EBA CLEARING to the delivery of Europe’s leading private large-value clearing system EURO1, the payment system STEP1 for commercial transactions and the first PE-ACH (pan-European automated clearing house) STEP2. The EBA is actively involved in the work of the European Payments Council as well as in the larger

Page 2 information and communication process on SEPA. www.abe.org www.ebaportal.info List of EBA Priority Payment Pilot Banks (in alphabetical order): ABN AMRO Bank Banco Comercial Português Banco de Sabadell Banque et Caisse d’Epargne de l’Etat Banco Espirito Santo Bank Austria Creditanstalt Caixa Geral de Depositos Citi Commerzbank Danske Bank Deutsche Bank Dexia Banque Dexia Banque Internationale à Luxembourg DnB NOR Bank Dresdner Bank EFG Eurobank Ergasias HSBC Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank Landesbank Baden-Württemberg National Bank of Greece Nordea Bank Danmark Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich Intesa Sanpaolo Sydbank Unicredito Italiano WestLB

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