PayPal

ING and PayPal to Bring E-Payments to Europe

PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- 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."

About PayPal

PayPal is the instant and secure online payment service that allows people and businesses to send and receive money by e-mail, funded from bank accounts or credit cards. With more than 4.5 million users, PayPal is the world's first and largest Internet-based payment network, and the #1 financial site on the Internet, according to PC Data Online. PayPal is the preferred payment service for online auctions, online community and group web sites, and is seeing tremendous growth in use for e-commerce. Free to consumers, PayPal can be used from PCs or web-enabled mobile phones.

A privately held company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, PayPal was recently named one of the 50 Most Important Private Companies in the World by Red Herring, one of the Top 25 New Companies by Fortune Small Business, and a Forbes Favorite Website in the magazine's latest 'Best of the Web' issue. For more information, please visit www.PayPal.com.

About ING

ING Group is a global financial institution active in the fields of insurance, banking and asset management, with more than 100,000 employees in 65 countries. ING provides a full range of integrated financial services for its clients through a variety of distribution channels. ING has more than $550 billion in assets. For more information, please visit www.ing.com.

SOURCE: PayPal