Bank of Stockton Enhances Consumer Lending Through APPRO Systems' LoanCenter Consumer; Bank Now Able to Auto-Decision More Than 70 Percent of Loan Applications.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- APPRO Systems, Inc., the leading provider of automated credit risk management and financial technologies for the lending industry, announced that Stockton, Calif.-based Bank of Stockton has purchased an application service provider (ASP) version of LoanCenter Consumer(TM), APPRO's loan automation and credit risk decisioning system designed specifically for consumer lending. The bank anticipates a full implementation of the system by October 2004.

Bank of Stockton handles personal secured and unsecured loans, automobile loans and leases, ATV loans, recreational vehicle loans, bankcard loans and home equity lines of credit (HELOCS). Bank officials cite LoanCenter Consumer's automated decisioning capabilities and ability to quickly perform funding calculations for both auto loans and leases as key components of its purchase decision. Through LoanCenter Consumer, the bank now has the ability to auto-decision 70 percent or more of its loan applications, thus enabling a faster turnaround time to its dealer database. As a result, the bank's staff is now free to focus more of its attention on business development functions and customer service.

"Our goal is to run the consumer loan department smoothly and efficiently by implementing different processes within the system to increase application volumes and ultimately boost customer satisfaction," said Alison McPherson, assistant vice president and Consumer Loan Department systems coordinator for Bank of Stockton. "Additionally, the ASP feature is beneficial to us as it allows for the elimination of maintenance performance, since APPRO houses and maintains all of the equipment for us in a secure location."

"Bank of Stockton provides its customers with a wide array of consumer loan products and it was important that it have a system in place to support all of its lending initiatives," said Steve Uffman, CEO of APPRO Systems, Inc. "Our technology is specifically suited to help financial institutions like Bank of Stockton free up resources internally devoted to manually processing loans and in the process, create an environment conducive to the bank growing its consumer lending portfolio more effectively."

About Bank of Stockton

Founded in Stockton in 1867, Bank of Stockton is California's oldest bank still operating under its original charter. With 15 offices and approximately 350 friendly and experienced employees, Bank of Stockton has a lot to offer. Additional information about the bank can be found online at www.bankofstockton.com.

About APPRO Systems, Inc.

APPRO Systems, Inc. is the lending industry's leading provider of comprehensive, automated credit risk management and financial technologies for the Internet and traditional lending environments. APPRO supports more than 400 financial institutions, with customers of all types in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The company provides rapid implementation time and professional services for its signature product, LoanCenter(TM), a scalable software system that enables high decision quality and speed and automates the entire workflow of processing credit applications and originating loans for lenders of all sizes. The 26-year-old company is based in Baton Rouge, La. with additional offices in Dallas, Texas. For additional information about APPRO, visit the company's Web site at www.approsystems.com.