Raising The Standard

Spectrum, an electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) hub, is trying to bring much-needed order to the bill payments industry.

A joint venture of Chase Manhattan, First Union and Wells Fargo, Spectrum has begun processing payments and is seeking to get top banks and billersto use the service. "We believe we'll have seven of the top 10 banks using the switch by the end of the year," said John Perry, chairman and CEO of the Atlanta-based company.

The three owner banks alone represent some 400 million bills a year, which should drive adoption up substantially.

Spectrum converts bills using an enhanced OFX platform along with an IFX switch. Each bank, however, is developing its own method for presenting bills to the consumer.

Spectrum is the shot in the arm EBPP has needed, according to Jeanne Capachin, an analyst with Meridien Research. "Without standards, we think this is all going to die out pretty quickly because it's just not manageable."

"We're just waiting to see how the industry is going to sort itself out," she continued. "We're really afraid of making prognostications about where we see this market going because there are just a lot of variables."