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May 12, 2003

NATIONWIDE WORKS WITH LEVEL FOUR TO RAPIDLY DEPLOY AND IMPROVED ATM SERVICES

Enhanced ATM functionality and new self-service devices for Nationwide customers

London, 12 May 2003 - Level Four Software, a provider of best-of-breed ATM test and development software today announced that Nationwide, the UK's largest building society, has implemented its ATM Channel Development Suite to develop, test and rapidly deploy new content across its ATM network.

Nationwide was keen to improve the functionality of its existing ATM network and deliver new convenient banking services for customers. Nationwide selected Level Four's ATM Channel Development Suite to help create, prototype, test, manage and implement both existing ATM downloads and new ATM services, non-disruptively. It will also assist Nationwide with its migration to the new EMV standard.

Nationwide also required a solution that is capable of providing support for new types of ATM devices that the society is delivering in the near future. Nationwide is currently rolling out an automated cash deposit service that will enable customers to deposit any combination of paper cash at a secure, dedicated machine. The machine will intelligently sort, quantify, scan and automatically credit the users account with the value of the cash.

This is a very progressive move in self-service banking and demonstrates Nationwide's continual commitment to remain at the forefront of customer service. Nationwide's aim is to provide a faster, efficient service so that customers spend less time in queues and in branches.

Level Four's software is also able to simulate how any machine in the Nationwide network will interact with the BASE24 host system in every possible transaction scenario. This enables Nationwide to fully automate the testing process so that staff no longer have to manually test transactions on real ATMs, which is both costly and time consuming.

"The simplicity of Level Four's products means we can substantially speed up the implementation process of new services at our ATMs," explains Kevin Scott-Evans, Controller for Technology Self Service Banking, the ATM Business Owner at Nationwide. "The success of our business is highly dependent on delivering the best level of customer service and keeping our ATM network fast, efficient and diverse in functionality. Level Four's test and development products help us achieve this with security and confidence."

"Nationwide has purchased our software to support its forward-thinking ATM strategy because we can help it realise its goals quickly, securely and cost-effectively. Our ability to support the upcoming EMV standard and to develop support for new services demonstrates the agility of our software. We are the only company that can offer complete, automated development and end-to-end testing capabilities of EMV compliant ATM networks in Europe. Nationwide is a key win for Level Four, " says Martin Macmillan, CEO, Level Four.

Level Four's primary software technology is the ATM Channel Development Suite - a comprehensive toolkit that allows financial institutions to develop, test and rapidly deploy new content and applications within their ATM delivery channels. It includes ATM Simulator, ATM Developer and EMV FastTrack plug-ins, allowing the rapid introduction of EMV compliance. The ATM Channel Development Suite also enables financial institutions to offer relevant, personalised and interactive functionality to customers through their existing ATM networks.

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About Nationwide

Nationwide is one of the UK's leading financial services providers. It has 10.7 million customers and over £78 billion in assets. Nationwide offers a range of products and services designed to meet members' financial needs and maintains an extensive branch network. This is complemented by services available by phone, post, internet using a PC or MAC, WAP phones, PocketPC PDAs and TV internet banking. Nationwide was the first to launch an internet banking service in the UK, first to have an internet banking service available through a TV and offered Europe's first PocketPC PDA mobile banking service. Nationwide is a mutually owned organisation. This means it belongs to its members and is run for their benefit. It's this mutual status that makes Nationwide different to the banks. Nationwide offers genuine long-term good value, and gives members easy access to a wide range of products and services.

For more details, visit the web site at: www.nationwide.co.uk. 

About Level Four

Level Four’s integrated BRIDGE suite of open ATM software products have been developed to address the needs of ATM deployers seeking to maximise their investment in the ATM channel. BRIDGE is targeted at banks and ATM deployers who are running, or seeking to run, a modern ATM network based on the industry-wide CEN/XFS open standard. As a true holistic offering, BRIDGE recognises the needs of ATM deployers in the areas of installation, testing and monitoring as well as run-time ATM software.

Since 1995, Level Four has built an impressive global customer base of banks and payments processors including, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB, National Bank of Dubai, Rabobank, LINK and Standard Bank of South Africa. Headquartered in Dunfermline, Scotland, Level Four also has offices in Dubai and Charlotte NC.


For further information contact:

Martin Macmillan
Level Four Software Ltd
Tel: +44 (0) 1383 720 118

E-mail: martin@levelfour.com

Hotwire PR
Nicola Truman / Alexia Ward
+44 (0) 20 7608 2500
E-mail: levelfour@hotwirepr.com