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Online Resources Links Financial Institutions to Mastercard Network for Bill Presentment Service

MCLEAN, Va., Mar. 28, 2000

Online Resources & Communications Corp.(Nasdaq: ORCC), a provider of Internet banking and bill payment services, will furnish the consumer interface at financial institutions' Web sites and debit consumers' accounts in real-time for bill payments as part of MasterCard International's enhanced Remote Payments and Presentment Service(RPPS) that was announced today.

Online Resources is participating as a lead consumer service provider (CSP), using the MasterCard RPPS network to provide online bill presentment to the customers of its more than 400 financial institution clients. As a CSP working for financial institutions, Online Resources will receive online bills from the MasterCard RPPS network and notify the institutions' customers. Online Resources will present summary data and provide a link to bill details. Then, with one click from consumers, Online Resources will debit their accounts and send payments through MasterCard RPPS to participating billing service providers (BSP). BSPs work with billers to present and settle transaction payments.

Through the MasterCard initiative, Online Resources will help ensure that banking industry standards and interoperability are central to a robust electronic bill payments and presentment service.

The power of this solution is that MasterCard's RPPS already has an established bill payments network conducting more than 8 million transactions per month between CSPs and BSPs. Adding bill presentment leverages established operating relationships that allow billers and their BSPs to reach more consumers for electronic bill delivery and payment and CSPs to present bills from more companies.

As part of its bill presentment and payment service, Online Resources will debit accounts using its patented EFT Gateway to speed up and guarantee consumers' payments to billers and their BSPs. The EFT Gateway links Online Resources data center to virtually all U.S. banking institutions through more than 65 ATM networks and core processors.

Online Resources was asked to participate in MasterCard's bill presentment program because of the long standing successful relationship between the two companies, according to Ruth Ann Marshall, president, North America Region, MasterCard International. "Combining our network links to billers' and consumers' accounts on behalf of their financial institution clients provides a powerful solution that enjoys tremendous confidence among all parties in the billing process, particularly the nation's financial institutions," Marshall said. "Having successfully employed our systems with Online Resources for nearly a decade in the electronic bill payment world, we look forward to the natural extension into the bill presentment world."

Online Resources CEO Matthew Lawlor said MasterCard's experience and commitment to open systems will be embraced by financial institutions and billers who want bill presentment combined with a top quality bill payment system. "We're very pleased to be able to bring together our extensive CSP capabilities with MasterCard's RPPS and BSPs to deliver a complete bill presentment and bill payment service," Lawlor said. "Like MasterCard, we remain committed to banking industry standards and interoperability and hope to link our services to all BSPs that share that commitment."

Carol Pirsch, Online Resources product manager, added, "MasterCard has a safe secure network to deliver bill payments for customers of our financial institutions, as well as an experienced management team, trusted standards, a proven risk management and customer service infrastructure, and business relationships with hundreds of billers."

This initiative with MasterCard is one in a series Online Resources has made over the past year to aggregate services that complement its core online banking and "pay anyone" bill payment service. These services include personalized consumer start pages bearing a financial institution's brand, brokerage services, Web-based data mining to improve customer service and marketing, and sophisticated cash management solutions for institutions' commercial clients.

Online Resources & Communications Corporation (http://www.orcc.com) is a leading outsourcer of privately branded Internet financial services for regional and community banking institutions. The McLean, Virginia-based company has more than 400 institutional clients nationwide. It provides consumer bill paying and banking services and aggregates lending, insurance, securities trading and investment services. Online Resources performs real-time processing through its patented EFT gateway and full customer service for client institutions, giving them a comprehensive "hub" solution from a single vendor. Client consumer marketing programs are conducted under the bankonline.com co-brand.

This news release contains statements about future events and expectations, which are "forward-looking statements." Any statement in this release that is not a statement of historical fact may be deemed to be a forward-looking statement. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Specific factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to: the company's history of losses and anticipation of future losses; the company's dependence on the marketing efforts of third parties; the potential fluctuations in the company's operating results; the company's potential need for additional capital; the company's potential inability to expand the company's services and related products in the event of substantial increases in demand for these services and related products; the company's competition; the company's ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the company's reliance on the company's patents and other intellectual property; the early stage of market adoption of the services it offers; consolidation of the banking and financial services industry; and those risks and uncertainties discussed in filings made by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those risks and uncertainties contained under the heading "Risk Factors" in the company's Registration Statement on Form S-1 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Online Resources Contact: Robert Griendling,
703/978-4686,
bob@griendling.com