TradeCard Network Reaches Asia
Hong Kong Standard

November 25, 1999 - Hong Kong's community of importer's and exporter's can soon expect to securely transact their business on the Internet when services by TradeCard become widely available. New York based TradeCard provides a patented online transaction settlement and documentary compliance system for companies buying and selling goods across borders.

The introduction of TradeCard to Hong Kong is being made possible by Tradelink Electronic Commerce, Ltd., a privately held company which oversees an "electronic gateway" for automating commonly used trade transactions between the local trading community and the Hong Kong SAR government.

Under a partnership agreement signed last week between TradeCard and Tradelink, Hong Kong businesses will be able to sign up - through Tradelink - for membership in the TradeCard network starting from the first quarter of 2000.

That membership will enable local businesses including Tradelink's existing 41,000 customers in the Hong Kong and China markets to transact with other TradeCard members around the world.

"While the Internet is enabling millions of businesses worldwide to buy and sell in ways never before imagined, the tools and methods used to conduct trade have gone unchanged for several hundred years and do not fit in the new world of e-commerce", said Kurt Cavano, chief executive officer of TradeCard.

"TradeCard represents a new payment alternative for international trade - a solution that is easier to use that a letter of credit, more secure than open accounts, and available for one flat fee per transaction."

This online business-to-business market is projected to become a world market valued at US $1.3 trillion (HK $10.14 trillion) by 2003, according to Forrester Research.

After Hong Kong, TradeCard will shortly expand its network coverage to the rest of Asia, Cavano said.

"The convenience and simplicity of TradeCard's services will hugely benefit Hong Kong's import/export community", said Justin Yue Kwok-hung, Tradelink's chief executive officer.

"By working with TradeCard, we can offer local businesses a complete and secure cycle of electronic services from purchasing to licensing and trade payments".

Yue pointed out that more than 75 per cent of all import and export declarations in Hong Kong are now processed electronically.

By April next year, Tradelink is expected to have helped some 70,000 Hong Kong trading firms (98 per cent of which are small and medium-sized businesses) to adopt electronic transactions with the Hong Kong SAR government.