rossCheck, Inc. is gearing up for substantial growth in 2003 with the signing of an agreement to be the check service provider for National Processing Co. (NPC), the second-largest merchant debit and credit card processor in the U.S. and a wholly owned subsidiary of National Processing, Inc. (NYSE: NAP). CrossCheck's check guarantee and check conversion services are part of the suite of offerings from NPC.

Under the terms of the agreement, NPC will offer CrossCheck's complete suite of check authorization services, including check guarantee and electronic check conversion via an imager, to NPC's regional merchants and prospects nationwide. CrossCheck was chosen by NPC to replace the check program formerly available from International Check Services (ICS). ICS was acquired by TeleCheck Services, Inc., a subsidiary of First Data Corp., a competitor of NPC, in April 2002.

"We are excited about this opportunity to be the check service provider to NPC," said J. David Siembieda, President and Chief Executive Officer of CrossCheck. "NPC has a tremendous amount of experience, knowledge and success in electronic payment processing. We look forward to partnering with them and adding our check services to their already robust regional merchant service offering."

Account implementation and customer service is being handled by CrossCheck, and additional support staff has been added to its Rohnert Park, Calif., headquarters. Agreements with several major industry partners, including NPC, have played a large part in the growth of the company in the last year.

The availability of a solid check conversion product was a key element in the agreement. CrossCheck provides a patent-pending check conversion solution with imaging that converts a customer's paper check into an electronic check at the point-of-sale and delivers funds directly to the merchant's account, improving cash flow.

Features unique to the CrossCheck conversion program include the acceptance of business checks and compatibility with a wide range of point-of-sale imagers and scanners.

Merchants are asking for conversion because they benefit from consolidated bank accounts, streamlined operations and reduced paper handling.

"With over 19 billion checks written annually at the point-of-sale, converting paper checks to electronic form represents a huge opportunity to reduce retailers' costs," said Mark D. Pyke, Chief Operating Officer for NPC. "We believe that CrossCheck's experience in check risk management combined with check imaging technology will help check conversion to become more widespread and allow us to deliver on the promise of reducing the costs of accepting checks for payment."

National Processing, Inc., through its wholly owned operating subsidiary National Processing Co. (NPC), is a leading provider of merchant credit card processing. National Processing is 85 percent owned by National City Corp. (NYSE: NCC), one of the nation's largest financial holding companies. NPC supports more than 645,000 merchant locations, representing nearly one out of every five MasterCard and VISA transactions processed nationally. NPC's card processing solutions offer superior levels of service and performance and assist merchants in lowering their total cost of card acceptance.

CrossCheck is the nation's largest privately held guarantee company. The number of merchant outlets serviced by CrossCheck has increased from 43,000 in 1998 to more than 73,000 in 2001. CrossCheck's services are marketed by ISOs, partners and through unique private-label programs.

Additional information regarding National Processing can be obtained at www.npc.net. For more information on CrossCheck, visit www.cross-check.com or phone 800-654-2365.