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MCLEAN, Va., Feb. 10 /BUSINESS WIRE/

Online Resources & Communication Corp. today announced an aggressive consumer marketing pilot campaign designed to convert its client financial institutions' home banking users to bill pay customers.

The pilot is the first step in a broad-based consumer marketing program Online Resources is developing for its clients. The program will include direct mail, branch incentives and telemarketing campaigns, among other initiatives- all conducted by Online Resources on the institution's behalf.

Ron Bergamesca, who recently joined the company as senior vice president for consumer marketing to head up this effort, said the campaign will introduce the financial services industry to marketing concepts that have had tremendous success in other industries but have not been widely deployed by credit unions and banks.

"We will be offering our clients all the marketing tools they need to sign up end-users," Bergamesca said. "We will not allow the banking industry to lose ground to others with more aggressive consumer marketing. And we're not going to let the banking industry's competition siphon off the most valued customers. "

Bergamesca said the first pilot program will focus on converting home banking users to bill pay users because the potential is tremendous. The marketing campaign will leverage the institutions' success in attracting home banking users. All Online Resources' clients offer bill payment services in addition to home banking, and 50% of their end users are already paying bills online.

"Our competitors readily admit that only a small fraction of their home banking end-users are also bill paying customers," Bergamesca said. "But home banking is often free to consumers and doesn't bond them to their financial institution the way bill payment does. The real potential for incremental income and customer retention for institutions lies in getting users to pay bills online. Institutions can also get market information they can use to help customers better manage their finances.

"We think our pilot campaign will enable institutions to convert a significant number of their home banking users to profitable bill paying customers. " The pilot program, in which several major credit union partners will be participating begins in March, with availability to all clients in April.

Bergamesca will be leveraging his experience at CUC International (now Cendant Corp.), where he managed direct marketing efforts of the nation's largest credit card protection program.

This initiative comes on the heels of Online Resources' Financial Services Center launch in December. That program consolidates a broad range of financial services on an institution's Web site. Consumers then can access the same type of services offered by many Web portals that are looking to compete for the banking industry's customers.

Online Resources announced its consumer marketing initiative at NAFCU -- CU Tech '99, the credit union's premier technology conference. Online Resources currently has 124 credit union clients among its total of 315 financial institutions. Online's credit unions have 2.8 million members with share draft accounts.

A few of Online Resources' larger credit union clients include Air Academy, American First, CinFed, CUNA, Dearborn, Educational, First Resource, Fort Bliss, Honeywell, IBM Mid-America, IBM Southeast, IBM Texas, Jax Navy, OmniAmerican, Phillips, Ranier Pacific, Redstone, St. Paul Postal, SCE (Southern Cal Edison), Teachers, TRW, and Wescom.

Online Resources has partnered with a number of the premier processing and reseller partners in the credit union world, including Aftech, Cardinal Services, CMC (Computer Marketing Corp.), CU CO-OP, Envision (parent to Users), CUSC (Credit Union Service Corp), Service Centers Corp., SOS Computer Systems, and Ultradata.

McLean, Va.-based Online Resources & Communications Corporation (www.orcc.com) provides electronic commerce services to financial institutions that "privately brand" them. Online's outsourced solutions enable consumers and small businesses to pay bills, bank and use other financial services via PCs through the Internet or private communications networks, or by telephone or the company's ScreenPhone. Online's patented ATM network-based architecture allows real-time transaction processing with major cost and quality benefits. By merging consumer access, content and the payments infrastructure, Online Resources serves as a network of networks and a one-stop electronic commerce solution for financial institutions. The company, founded in 1989, is privately-held and serves 315 financial institutions nationwide.