ING and PayPal to bring e-payments to Europe

[November 14th 2000]

In a move certain to expand international use of what has become a "killer financial app" in the United States, PayPal, the pioneer and leading provider of Internet-based payments, and ING Group, one of the largest financial services companies in the world, announced a major strategic partnership today to expand e-mail payments in Europe. ING and PayPal will jointly take steps to bring the PayPal concept to Europe. To strengthen the partnership ING also made an investment in PayPal's parent company X.com.

With more than 4.5 million customers in the United States, PayPal is seeking to leverage its burgeoning U.S. user base and become a global payments network. As one of the largest financial institutions in the world, ING will help roll-out the PayPal network throughout Europe, through its extensive existing customer base and by using the inherent "viral growth" of e-mailed payments to acquire new customers throughout the region. PayPal is currently adding more than 20,000 new users to its U.S. service each day.

Given the widespread use of wireless technology in Europe, the partnership will include the exploration of the possibilities of wireless payments, where PayPal also has a technological lead, being the first online payments company to offer its service by mobile phone in the U.S. This followed closely on PayPal's pioneering of mobile payments through the development of its initial Palm Pilot application.

Jacques Kemp, Global Head of E-Business for ING, commented, "PayPal pioneered e-mail payments, and we believe that this partnership unites two world-class organizations. We have to look closely at specific circumstances in Europe, but the simplicity and security of the e-mailed payments concept appears a very interesting one for ING's European strategy. With this strategic partnership ING has taken yet another step to be in the front line of innovative e-business initiatives. PayPal has proven to be successful in the United States and may well become, with its European rollout, the global standard for e-payments."

Peter Thiel, Chairman of X.com, stated, "ING is one of the premier financial institutions in the world, and we are extremely excited to partner with what we believe will become one of the dominant pan-European financial institutions. We believe our PayPal e-mail payment solution will dramatically drive ING's customer acquisition efforts and help them achieve their goals."

Links
PayPal		http://www.PayPal.com
ING		http://www.ing.com