Clearing House Payments Co. ExtendsProcessing Network

NEW YORK - (08/31/05) -- The Clearing House Payments Co. LLCsaid it has absorbed another regional payments clearing house inits bid to become the nation's preeminent electronic clearingnetwork. The company, which is owned by the nation's largest banks,said the Boston Clearing House, which clears 13 million checks amonth worth $850 million, has agreed to merge into its SVPCO-CheckServices business. In the past two years The Clearing House hasabsorbed the Western Payments Alliance, Chicago Clearing HouseAssociation, Connecticut Clearing House Corp., Northeast RegionalCheck Exchange-Long Island Arrangement, and Liberty Clearing HouseAssociation (New Jersey and Philadelphia. The merger of the Bostonoperations, The Clearing House now provides daily check clearingand settlement services from coast to coast, including six of thenation's 10 largest cities. SVPCO is owned by the largest banks inthe world, including Citibank, Wells Fargo, Key Bank, JP MorganChase, Bank of America, Citibank, PNC, Wachovia, SunTrust, ABNAMRO, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Deutsche Bank and HSBC.