$1 Trillion of Loans Processed on Automated Financial Systems' ASP Platform; Banks' Adoption of AFSCommerce Makes AFS One of the Largest Loan Processors in U.S.

Business Editors

EXTON, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2004

Automated Financial Systems (AFS--Exton) announced that more than $1 trillion of loans have been processed on the company's Application Service Provider (ASP) platform, AFSCommerce, since April 2000. AFSCommerce is a browser-based delivery system that automates and reduces costs associated with commercial and consumer lending processed through the integration of the origination and approval processes, loan accounting and portfolio management.

"Bankers are under some extreme pressures today to keep operating costs down, reduce risk and increase revenue," said John Shain, president of AFS. "AFSCommerce offers an alternative to in-house investments in systems, staff, management control and reporting. The success of AFSCommerce is a reflection of our customers' understanding that their competitive advantage rests with customer relationships, not their investments in back-office processing infrastructure."

Banks using AFSCommerce have assets ranging from $1 billion to $235 billion. Sovereign Bank (NYSE: SOV), based in Reading, PA, was the first bank to use AFSCommerce in 2000.

"Through the use of AFS' sophisticated rules engine, workflow automation and exception management tracking, AFSCommerce provides accountability and takes much of the complexity out of managing operational risk," Shain said.

AFSCommerce includes both processing and workflow management technologies that eliminate redundancies in the loan processes, increase data integrity and integrate organization-wide lending onto a single system.

AFSCommerce functions include:

-- Loan origination and decisioning

-- Account setup and maintenance

-- Exception processing and risk management

-- Loan processing

-- Payment processing (mail, branch and back office)

-- General Ledger account reconcilement

-- Management reporting

-- Service level management (resources, availability, timeliness,

performance)

-- Operational change management (planning, coordinating and

implementing client-requested process changes)

-- Systems configuration management

-- Business Continuity planning and service

About AFS

With more than 34 years of experience in delivering financial services software, AFS is the industry leader in the execution of lending and treasury management solutions for top-tier financial institutions, including its fully integrated Application Service Provider (ASP) delivery AFSCommerce(TM). AFS is the only business partner willing to use its capital and technology to guarantee accretive earnings within each client's business model, creating a no-risk solution. The firm has headquarters in Exton, Pa. and internationally in Cambridge, England. For more information, visit the company Web site at www.afsvision.com.