Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Chooses Equifax's FBS Software

ICBC To Issue Visa Cards To Chinese Olympic Delegation

ATLANTA, June 27, 1996 - One of China's largest commercial banks, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of Beijing, has selected Equifax to provide the computer software it needs to process credit cards. The software system from Equifax subsidiary FBS Software is already being used to issue Visa cards to the Chinese athletes, Olympic officers and reporters participating in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.

The sale to ICBC marks Equifax's first major step into China and adds strength to an international expansion effort that has already led to sales in 36 countries around the world.

"Our company welcomes this new relationship with one of China's major financial institutions," said Larry Towe, FBS president. "Our experience with payment services integrates very well in this rapidly growing market and doing business in China completes another part of our international growth strategy.

The software package installed for ICBC comes from Equifax's line of "UNIX" products, known as MultiXpac. MultiXpac is a portfolio of advanced software systems for payment and credit card processing, accounting, point of sale and automated teller machine management. Being "UNIX" based, MultiXpac is particularly suited to bank operations with open systems.

Mr. Gang Wang, manager of the ICBC International Credit Card Project, said, "Using FBS MultiXpac products helps us to professionally launch our new Visa card program. FBS is supplying us with several products that we've integrated into our operations. When we told FBS about our needs, they presented us with a total solution' that fulfilled them."

IBM China assisted Equifax with its entry into the Chinese market by acting as the facilitator between ICBC and FBS in this transaction. IBM China provided the expertise necessary to convert the FBS software into Chinese. In addition, all local support of the systems is being provided through IBM China.

In January of this year, IBM and Equifax joined forces to globally market computer, management and processing solutions to financial institutions that issue credit cards in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Currently, IBM and Equifax are negotiating a similar contract in the Asia/Pacific region.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is a major financial institution with over 20,000 branch offices in China. ICBC is a leading consumer oriented organization that is leading the Chinese market in card-based payment services.

Atlanta-based FBS Software develops and licenses mainframe and Unix-based software for payment card processing, merchant portfolio processing and collections. Incorporated in 1986 as First Bankcard Systems, the company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Equifax Inc. in 1994. Leading financial institutions in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Turkey have turned to FBS for expert and innovative solutions in the collections and electronic payment industries.

For more information on FBS Software, contact Mark Wingate, FBS vice president, at (404) 847-9988, or write to 1150 Lake Hearn Drive, NE, Suite 500, Atlanta, GA 30342, USA.

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX), committed to Global Information Leadership in the Information Age, is the leading provider of information services that help grant credit, authorize and process credit card and check transactions, insure lives and property and control healthcare costs. Established in 1899 in Atlanta, Equifax today employs 14,000 people throughout North and South America, the United Kingdom and continental Europe. Revenues for the 12 months ended March 31, 1996, totaled $1.7 billion.