Trintech Group PLC Announces Acquisition of Checkline PLC; Acquisition Expands eCommerce & mCommerce Product Offerings.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN MATEO, Calif. and DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 29, 2000

Trintech Group PLC (Nasdaq:TTPA)(Neuer Markt:TTP), a leading provider of secure electronic payment infrastructure solutions, today announced that it acquired Checkline plc, a privately held company in the United Kingdom, for a total consideration of approximately U.S.$44 million. This acquisition reinforces Trintech's commitment to becoming the dominant global provider of secure ePayment infrastructure solutions for eCommerce and mobile commerce (mCommerce) and establishes a significant foothold in the key U.K. market.

Commenting on the acquisition, Cyril McGuire, Executive Chairman of Trintech said, "This acquisition represents a significant initial step in Trintech's strategy of gaining access to new products, customers and markets. Checkline, with it's team of 65 people, strengthens the Trintech Group's existing strong position in Europe, and presents future opportunities in the mCommerce market. This is a great opportunity for Trintech to expand its presence in strategically -important markets in addition to accessing complementary products and technology."

Checkline plc, one of the U.K.'s most focused transaction processing and electronic card payment companies, has nearly 15 years of secure payment experience. It combines expertise in software, communications and systems integration to provide a comprehensive range of secure payment solutions for transaction processing; integrated merchant transaction management; eCommerce and the emerging U.K. mCommerce market, including electronic prepay top-ups for mobile phones. Their product range also includes the U.K.'s first bank-approved mobile payment system to use GSM phone technology.

Key customers include, American Express, HSBC, Bank of Scotland, Heathrow Express, the UK Post Office, BUPA and Equifax. Checkline has forged strong strategic relationships with 20:20 (part of the Cauldwell Group), NatWest and De La Rue for the mCommerce market, as well as with other systems providers such as Siemens Nixdorf, IBM, ICL and Micros Fidelio.

Suresh Mirpuri, CEO Checkline plc, stated that "joining forces with Trintech will provide us with the resources to exploit the significant opportunities that exist in this exciting ePayment market and with Trintech's PayWare(TM) range of products, Checkline can now offer complete 'end to end' ePayment solutions."

The consideration is being effected through the issuance of ordinary shares equivalent to 1.2 million American depositary shares, U.S.$10 million in cash and a two-year performance earn-out of approximately U.S.$5 million.

Checkline will increase Trintech's presence in key European markets, including the U.K. and Spain. By leveraging Checkline's presence in these markets, Trintech expects to be able to broaden its distribution channels as well as benefit from product integration of both companies complementary technologies.

"Checkline will enhance Trintech's robust global offering of secure ePayment infrastructure solutions and help fuel the Group's growth while consolidating current market presence as we establish footholds for future expansion," says Paul Byrne, Chief Financial Officer.

About Trintech

Trintech Group PLC is a leading provider of secure electronic payment infrastructure solutions for real world, Internet and wireless transactions. The company, founded in 1987, offers a complete range of payment software products for credit, debit, commercial and procurement card applications. Trintech's secure product range is deployed in over 35 countries worldwide and covers the payment requirements of consumers, card issuing banks, merchant acquiring institutions, merchants, eMerchants, telcos, wireless operators, ISPs/CSPs, Portals and large corporations. The Group's range of scalable, open

systems architecture solutions for UNIX(R) and Windows NT(TM) platforms covers consumer, merchant and financial institution requirements for all card-based payments, including e-commerce and the emerging world of mobile commerce. Trintech can be contacted in the U.S. at 2755 Campus Drive, San Mateo, CA 94003 (Tel: [phone]) and in Ireland at Trintech Building, South County Business Park, Leopardstown, Dublin 18 (Tel: [phone]). Trintech can be reached on the Web at http://www.trintech.com. Investor information can be found at www.trintech.com/investor.

About Checkline

Checkline plc can be reached on the Web at http://www.checkline.co.uk.

This press release contains "forward looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding the impact Trintech's acquisition will have to increase Trintech's presence in European markets, to broaden Trintech's distribution channels and to enhance Trintech's product offering. Any "forward looking statements" in this press release are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include the level of demand for Trintech's products in Europe, Trintech's ability to assimilate Checkline's products and technologies with its own, any difficulties Trintech may experience in integrating Checkline's organization into its own and the impact on Trintech's earnings which may be caused by the purchase accounting treatment of the acquisition.

Additional factors could include the ability to develop, market and sell its eCommerce software, the market acceptance of the SSL or SET(TM) standards for eCommerce payment transactions and the continued market demand for its electronic point-of-sale systems. Actual performance may also be affected by other factors more fully discussed in Trintech's Form 20-F and Form 6-K for the quarter ended April 30, 2000 filed with the US. Securities and Exchange Commission.