BCE Emergis Announces E-Commerce Contract with the National Bank of Canada.

MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 22, 1999--

BCE Emergis announced today a five-year, exclusive contract to supply the National Bank of Canada with a full suite of back-office e-commerce services to electronically handle title searches and the registration of loan securities and guarantees.

The Internet-based e-commerce solution automates all the business processes involved in issuing loans backed by collateral from the borrower: commercial leases and loans, personal loans for moveable property (such as automobiles), and mortgage loans. The solution also prints loan-guarantee contracts and other required forms, and even sends documents to appraisers, lawyers and notaries. The solution is ideal for financial institutions, loan companies, lawyers and notaries.

The technology for this project was developed by Info-Titres Inc., a private company that was acquired in April by BCE Emergis. The purpose of the transaction, which will not have a material effect on the current year's results for BCE Emergis, was designed to strengthen the Company's foothold in the financial/mortgage services sector. The contract with National Bank of Canada was originally signed with Info-Titres and is being announced today following the initial success of operational tests.

"This e-commerce solution enables us to reduce substantially the normal commercial loan treatment delay," said Leon Courville, President and Chief Operating Officer, National Bank of Canada. "National Bank has always supported Info-Titres on a financial and technological level and we are proud to see that it is now part of BCE Emergis, who is going to help us expand this service into our branches in other provinces quickly and easily with almost no capital investment on our part. The results that we have so far are clearly promising a solid future in the digitalization of the financial/mortgage industry."

"We are delighted with this agreement as it extends our reach in the financial/mortgage services market and strengthens our leadership position within the Canadian banking industry," said Brian Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Emergis. "This solution complements our suite of leading-edge back-office solutions for financial institutions, which already includes electronic bill presentment, cash-management services, electronic payment services and more. We see the opportunity to leverage this solution in other parts of Canada and throughout the U.S."

BCE Emergis delivers network-centric e-commerce business solutions that enable organizations to better compete in the global marketplace. Combining e-commerce services, network infrastructure, security services, and payments solutions through industry vertical applications, BCE Emergis offers a full suite of core technologies that are the essential building blocks for electronic commerce. BCE Emergis, one of the top tier electronic commerce providers in the world is now part of the TSE 300 Composite Index. For more information, please refer to http://www.emergis.com.

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the current views and/or expectations of BCE Emergis with respect to its performance, business and future events. Such statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results and events may vary significantly.