In Brief: Test in Fall for Chase-Wells-1st Union Venture

The electronic bill presentment venture of Chase Manhattan Corp., First Union Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co. is "on track" for a pilot test in the fall, said Sharon Osberg, executive vice president and head of on-line financial services at Wells Fargo.

The venture, which had been tentatively dubbed Exchange, has chosen Spectrum as its permanent name. It also named its bill presentment service QuickBill.

Ms. Osberg said the project has sparked more interest from other banks than "even we anticipated." The founding banks have said they would allow other financial institutions to join on a membership basis.

Announced in June, the bill presentment venture is building an Internet-based switching system using Sun Microsystems Inc. technology to route electronic bills from the corporate customers of the banks to their retail customers. The three founders have an aggregate 60 million consumer and small-business customers, and relationships with more than 59,000 corporations and institutions.

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