PNC Bank and BillingZone, LLC today announced the addition of The Procter & Gamble Distributing Company (P&G) as a new customer on the BillingZone™ business-to-business electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) service. Through BillingZone, P&G will now offer online presentment of its invoices using the Internet, while at the same time offering its customers electronic payment ability.
Ranked 23 among Fortune 500 companies, P&G contracted with PNC Bank, piloting first in the United States and potentially expanding to other P&G markets after completing a successful pilot.
BillingZone, a joint venture formed by PNC Bank and Perot Systems Corporation, was launched in March 2000. Its business-to-business electronic bill presentment and payment services are marketed to PNC's business customers as well as to customers of other banks.
"PNC Bank and BillingZone are a winning combination steeped in experience with and an understanding of the complexities of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce," said Craig Brinkman, global accounts receivables manager of P&G. "This offering is aligned with P&G's goal of providing additional solutions to our customers leveraging the power of the web. We believe we can reduce our cost-per-invoice, improve cash flow and enhance customer satisfaction via online tracking of inquiries and disputes. P&G customers will also benefit from the ability to schedule payments, automate the dispute process and better manage cash flow."
"Electronic bill presentment and payment is designed to achieve the same benefits as EDI (electronic data interchange), sharing electronic data and information between companies while limiting up-front investments and infrastructure costs," said Francine Miltenberger, executive vice president and division executive, PNC Bank Treasury Management. "Even customers with no e-commerce experience can now benefit from efficiencies gained through offerings such as EBPP."
BillingZone is the only B2B EBPP consolidator model, providing payers the ability to view and to pay bills from multiple billers through one online site. Through the BillingZone service, businesses can issue invoices and receive payments as well as track the status of these transactions from multiple vendors or customers that are also BillingZone participants.
PNC Bank is one of the top ten Treasury Management providers nationwide and has a long history with P&G that dates back at least six decades and includes a wide range of receivables and payables services.
"Corporations such as P&G are searching for new opportunities to improve operating efficiencies, to transform critical receivables processes and to enhance customer service," said Miltenberger. "To meet the needs of our customers, we committed the past 12 months and more than $50 million to pioneer several advanced receivables solutions. One of these efforts was our investment in BillingZone and its EBPP solution."
"BillingZone is delighted that such a global, prominent company as P&G has selected us as its solution for B2B EBPP," said Eric Smith, chief executive officer of BillingZone. "Given Procter & Gamble's reputation for focusing on its customers, we believe that this relationship will significantly accelerate the adoption of B2B EBPP by business payers. In addition, we are excited to see the momentum building with our bank channel partners as they bring their customer base to BillingZone."
About PNC Bank Treasury Management
PNC Bank Treasury Management is a business unit of PNC Bank, which is a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. PNC Bank is one of the top ten treasury management providers in the nation, maintaining its position as an industry leader with a diverse mix of advanced products and services. PNC Bank Treasury Management helps companies manage their finances by integrating their receivables, payables, investment and information reporting activities into one streamlined system.
Over the past year, PNC Bank Treasury Management has introduced several industry-leading innovations. These include: A/R Advantage, state-of-the art receivables imaging technology; Internet Service Center, an expanding portal to online customer service and treasury management services; Digital Community Settlement Service, an online payment and settlement solution that supports the B2B e-commerce community; and BillingZone, a joint venture between PNC Bank and Perot Systems Corporation that offers a business-to-business electronic bill presentment and payment service, providing businesses with a consolidator model for presenting and paying invoices on the Internet. For more information, visit PNC Bank Treasury Management on the Web at http://www.treasury.pncbank.com/.
About The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC), headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, is one of the nation's largest diversified financial services organizations providing regional banking, corporate banking, real estate finance, asset-based lending, wealth management, asset management and global fund services.
About BillingZone, LLC
BillingZone, LLC offers a business-to-business electronic bill presentment and payment service that provides businesses a consolidator model for presenting and paying invoices on the Internet. The service is expressly designed to meet the needs of corporate billers and payers and provides to payers the convenience of paying multiple bills from participating billers at one site. BillingZone helps companies streamline the complexity of invoicing and payment processes, realize significant cost savings by eliminating paper and manual processes, and speed up the communication between companies and their customers. BillingZone, LLC is a joint venture of two industry leaders, PNC Bank, N.A., a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC), and Perot Systems Corporation (NYSE: PER). For more information, contact BillingZone, LLC at 412-705-3000 or via e-mail at info@billingzone.com. Additional information is available on the company's web site at www.billingzone.com.
BillingZone, BillingZone.com and the BillingZone logo are trademarks of BillingZone, LLC.
About Procter & Gamble
Established in 1837, Procter & Gamble markets approximately 300 brands to nearly five billion consumers in over 140 countries. These brands include Tide®, Ariel®, Crest®, Pantene Pro-V®, Always®, Whisper®, Pringles®, Pampers®, Olay®, Iams® and Vicks®. Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, P&G has on-the-ground operations in over 70 countries and employs more than 110,000 people worldwide.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act with respect to BillingZone's anticipated business, including statements regarding the expected development and benefits of products. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "position," "potential" and "continue," by future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could" and "may," or by similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, all of which change over time. Forward- looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and BillingZone, LLC, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. and Perot Systems Corporation assume no duty to update forward-looking statements.
The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements: BillingZone's ability to continue the development, introduction, and implementation of its electronic bill presentment and payment service as planned; the degree to which billers and payers accept electronic bill presentment and payment in general and BillingZone's service in particular; BillingZone's ability to attract and to maintain a critical mass of billers using its service; the loss of key personnel; changes in the competitive market in which the service will operate; the impact, extent, timing, and cost of technological changes; risks associated with the commercial use of the Internet generally; undetected software bugs; possible product liability claims; possible inability to protect proprietary technology; and possible infringement claims. BillingZone is a start-up business and, as such, has risks associated with the development of a new market, product development, and the recruiting and retention of employees.
Additional factors that can affect forward-looking statements are identified in the respective SEC Reports of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. and Perot Systems Corporation, which reports are accessible on the SEC's web site and on the companies' respective web sites.
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SOURCE: The PNC Financial Services Group
Contact: Amy Vargo of PNC Bank, 412-762-1535, or amy.vargo@pncbank.com,
or Jeff Cohen of Ketchum, 412-456-3857, or jeff.cohen@ketchum.com, for
BillingZone
Website: http://www.treasury.pncbank.com/
Website: http://www.billingzone.com/
Website: http://www.pnc.com/
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