Steelscreen AB boosts e-marketplace services with major European business partners

Steelscreen AB boosts e-marketplace services with major European business partners Steelscreen, the European internet marketplace for steel and metals, has signed a series of strategic alliances so its users can access Credit Insurance, Trade Finance, Foreign Exchange, Raw Material Hedging and Material Inspection all from the same site when buying and selling metals online. During the summer, it will also be adding partners for a Logistical Services capability to its range of added value facilities. The following partners are all developing their services with the intent to make them available on-line to the Steelscreen community: All the Partners (alphabetically) ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Amsterdam ABN AMRO Futures London Allgemeine Kreditversicherung Mainz Coface Group Paris Deutsche Bank Frankfurt E D & F Man International London NCM Group Amsterdam Royal Bank of Scotland Group London SEB Group Stockholm SGS Group Geneva "By having many of the leading institutions which service the commodities market available for our users will not only save them time but also limits the costs and difficulties they usually incur in procuring such services." said Fredrik Norén, in charge of Strategic Partnerships at Steelscreen AB. "Our partners also benefit by gaining access to a significant part of the online European metals community early on in the development of e-business in the European metals industry." Steelscreen plans to make this range of services available to its clients during September and October this year. The e-marketplace operates on an XML format for all its transactions which allows users easily to integrate all of their metals trading into their existing ERP systems. Security for these services is further enhanced by using a smartcard process where the identity of each participant is independently authenticated before the service can be accessed. "Our research tells us that what the Metals community primarily wants out of an electronic marketplace is increased business by a simpler and cheaper process," said Fredrik Norén. "And that is what we intend to deliver by partnering with the market leaders for each service and ensuring they can provide the Pan-European coverage that is at the heart of Steelscreen's core business." "The more useful and comprehensive e-procurement that can be undertaken at one marketplace, the more popular that site will become." said Peter Anderberg, Marketing Director, Steelscreen AB. "Just from preliminary discussions with our users, being able to offer these services to our clients greatly enhances Steelscreen's service to the metals industry. - END - Note to editors: Steelscreen is the European Internet marketplace for steel and metal products. Users of the service benefit from lower costs, simplified routines, improved access, better overview and market transparency as well as a range of new services to facilitate sales and procurement activities. Steelscreen is a European company focusing on the specific requirements of the European metals market. It has established offices throughout Europe and its marketplace can be accessed in ten different languages. Partner Organisations About ABN AMRO Bank N.V. ABN AMRO Bank has a presence in 76 countries and territories. Using its worldwide network the bank provides integrated financial services, consisting of commercial and investment banking products to nationally and internationally active corporate clients as well as personal and private banking customers. For more information please visit: www.gts.abnamro.com or contact Mark Hanhart Email mark.hanhart@nl.abnamro.com About ABN AMRO Futures ABN AMRO Futures has a global presence with offices in Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney. A Tokyo office will established in the second half of 2000. The business provides execution, clearing, settlement and related services for institutional and corporate clients on over 40 futures and options exchanges across the world. ABN AMRO Futures product coverage includes; Interest Rates, Bonds, Currencies, Equities, Base Metals, Energy, Grains and Soft Commodities. About the Coface Group Coface Group is the world leader in export credit insurance and leading in credit information and receivables management. The stock-listed company Coface S.A., Paris, now operates in 70 countries through CreditAlliance and InfoAlliance networks, such as AK Norden, Stockholm, the recently opened Branch Office of Allgemeine Kreditversicherung AG, subsidiary to Coface S.A. The Group offers a comprehensive range of domestic and international credit insurance, guarantees and services enabling companies throughout the world to identify and retain profitable customers by outsourcing all or part of the development, management and protection of their customer portfolio. Rated AA by Fitch IBCA, the Coface Group retains its technological leadership being the first credit insurance group that developed @rating, an original web-based rating system for trade debt using the B-to-B e-commerce instruments of the future, in order to make e-commerce business-to-business transactions safe. For more information please visit: www.cofacerating.com or contact Mikael Pettersson +46-8-5450 2298 Email pettersson@allgemeine-kredit.de About Deutsche Bank With over Euro 953 billion in assets as of March 31, 2000 and more than 90,000 employees, Deutsche Bank offers its clients unparalleled financial services throughout the world. It ranks among the leaders in asset management, capital markets, corporate finance, custody, cash management and private banking. Deutsche Bank is divided into five major business units: Global Corporates and Institutions, Global Technology and Services, Asset Management, Corporates and Real Estate and Private and Retail Banking. The keys to the Bank's success remain constant: customer focus, the spirit of innovation, a broad range of product skills combined with technological power and financial strength delivered by highly skilled professionals. Deutsche Bank has committed itself to expanding its e-commerce offerings with the global-e initiative which co- ordinates e-commerce efforts across all business divisions. For more information please visit: www.deutsche-bank.com or contact Wolfgang Stockinger Email wolfgang.stockinger@db.com About E D & F Man International E D & F Man International is one of the world's leading futures and options brokers , holding memberships on the principal securities and futures exchanges worldwide and providing institutional, commercial and private clients with a range of hedging and investment products on a 24-hour basis. These products, as well as specialised services, include interest rate and other financial products, foreign exchange, energy, precious and non-ferrous metals, grains and other soft commodities, equity indices, and securities. For more information please visit www.mangroupplc.com or contact Derek Over Email dgover@edfman.com About the NCM Group NCM Group, internationally recognized leader in the credit management market, and one of the world's leading credit insurers with 122 Billion Euro of global trade a year. NCM, 90% owned by Swiss Re, has offices in eleven countries in all major economies. For more information please visit: www.ncmgroup.com or contact Marcel Wendrich Corporate Communications (Amsterdam) Tel +31 20 5533055 About The Royal bank of Scotland Group The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a broadly based financial services group with assets in excess of £275 billion and operations spanning clearing Banking, investment banking, financial services, investment management and Insurance, both in the UK and overseas. It has the largest share of the UK business and it has pioneered the development of electronic banking propositions in its home market and now boasts an on-line community of 40,000 corporate customers. For more information contact: Anthony Frost Head of PR, Corporate Banking and Financial Markets The Royal Bank of Scotland Tel: +44 20 7427 9110 email: anthony.frost@rbs.co.uk About SEB Group SEB Group is a European bank, focused on the Internet, savings and the Nordic corporate market. SEB is also one of the largest Nordic financial groups, with SEK 810 billion in assets under management and more than SEK 1,000 billion (pro forma, including BfG) in total assets at the beginning of 2000. The Group is represented in some 20 countries around the world and has approximately 21,000 employees. For more information please visit www.mb.seb.se or contact Olof Paulson or Agneta Setterwall Tel +46 8 506 23000 About SGS Group The SGS Group is the largest verification, testing and certification organization in the world. SGS was founded in 1878. Today, the SGS brand is recognized as the global benchmark for the highest standards of expertise, quality and integrity. The SGS Group provides services in more than 140 countries. Its global capability allows clients to have their interests protected anywhere in the world with a "single source" solution. eCommerce is a natural extension of the SGS role in trade, which is to bring trust to trade transactions. SGS builds trust between buyers and vendors in eMarketplaces, and is committed to bringing SGS to the same leadership position on-line as they do in off-line trade today. Utilizing the SGS world-wide verification and reporting network (over 30,000 employees across 140 countries, established over 120 years), SGS provides the confidence buyers and sellers need to transact on the net, linking the virtual world to the real. For more information please visit www.sgsgroup.com and www.sgsonsite.com or contact Vincent Mazzone Email : vincent_mazzone@sgsonsite.co Press information For more information please contact Fredrik Norén or Peter Anderberg at Steelscreen AB on +46 (0) 8 406 3980 or Email: fredrik.noren@steelscreen.com, mobile +46 702 16 84 02 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/07/07/20000707BIT00820/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/07/07/20000707BIT00820/bit0002.pdf