Avolent and AFN Partner to Drive Growth of Asian Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment Market Initial Deployment through Largest Bank Consortium in Asia.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 21, 2000

Avolent, Inc. (formerly Just in Time Solutions, Inc.), the leading vendor of Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP), Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment (EIPP) and Interactive Customer Care (ICC) solutions, and Asia Financial Network (AFN), a leading EBPP technology and services provider in Asia, today announced a strategic partnership. AFN is a wholly owned subsidiary of iMerchants Limited (iMerchants) (HKSE:8009), a pioneer and leading e-commerce execution and operations partner in Asia. Under terms of the agreement, AFN will utilize Avolent's market-leading EBPP software, BillCast(TM), as part of its online bill management services. AFN will initially offer its services to banks and billers through JETCO Online, which is the online service joint venture between iMerchants and JETCO, a bank consortium with 52 members in Hong Kong and Macau.

Through the introduction of online bill management services, billers will be able to migrate their traditional consumer billing process to the Internet. Billers generate considerable savings from online bill processing as well as a new channel to deliver enhanced customer service. Banks benefit from being able to settle customer bills cost effectively and consumers from the convenience of viewing and paying their consolidated bills at a single location.

"Industry studies clearly indicate growing demand for Internet billing solutions in the Asian market," said Douglas S. Thompson, chairman and CEO of Avolent. "By partnering with AFN, we facilitate our quick entry into this region and ensure that an increasing number of companies have easy access to standards-based EBPP solutions. We are already a recognized force in the U.S. market and this agreement demonstrates our ability to extend this leadership position to a global level."

According to International Data Corporation, the global EBPP market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 99.7% from 1999 to 2004. In Asia Pacific alone, EBPP application and transaction revenue is projected to grow from US$2 million in 1999 to US$145 million in 2004.

"With the experience of providing online billing service since 1998, AFN is dedicated to driving widespread adoption of EBPP in Asia. Together with our expert knowledge, experience and business network in Asia, the partnership with Avolent, a long-time champion of open standards and the leading independent EBPP solutions provider in the U.S., strengthens the growth of the EBPP market in Asia. This partnership will not only positively impact AFN but also the industry as a whole," added Leroy Kung, chairman and CEO of iMerchants.

The industry's only true standards-based solution, Avolent's BillCast software is uniquely capable of meeting the EBPP needs of billing organizations and service providers across the globe. The company's customer list already includes AT&T, Intuit, MasterCard, Spectrum, Wells Fargo and YourAccounts.Com.

About AFN

Asia Financial Network was established by iMerchants Ltd. to provide the specialized online billing, invoicing and payment technologies that businesses and financial institutions need to compete successfully in today' s online world. Drawing on the experience of its parent in online billing and payment, and on partnerships with leading technology leaders, AFN provides clients with proven technologies and solid implementation capabilities. AFN's initial offering supports electronic bill publishing, payment and consolidation.

AFN is led by industry expert Edward Un, who played a key role in the original formulation of Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) industry standards in the USA. Key partners include JETCO and Avolent.

About Avolent

Avolent (formerly Just in Time Solutions) is the leading provider of standards-based software solutions for Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP), Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment (EIPP) and Interactive Customer Care (ICC). Avolent's BizCast(TM) software provides benefits to all parts of the business-to-business delivery chain -- including billers, payers, service providers, exchanges and financial institutions. Through a unique, data-centric approach, BizCast automates the entire "invoice to pay" process by helping businesses present, route, reconcile, dispute, analyze and pay invoices online. The company's modular BillCast(TM) software suite enables relationship-centric billers to deploy secure, scalable solutions for personalized billing, statement presentment, payment and service delivery that increase the value of each customer interaction.

Founded in 1995 and headquartered in San Francisco, Avolent helped pioneer the Open Financial Exchange (OFX) standard for online bill presentment and the thin consolidator model, and continues to champion open standards, including the Interactive Financial Exchange (IFX). In October 2000 Avolent signed a definitive agreement to acquire Solant, a pioneer in the integration of advanced business-to-business and business-to-consumer EBPP and ICC applications. Avolent's customers are some of the largest billing organizations and service providers in the industry, including Advanced Radio Telecom, AT&T, CyberBills, Intuit, MasterCard, Metavante, Spectrum, Trivergent, YourAccounts.Com and Wells Fargo. For more information, please visit www.avolent.com or call 415/553-6400.

Note to Editors: Avolent, BillCast and BizCast are registered trademarks of Avolent. All other product and company names are the property of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged.