ING Bank of Canada Enters into Agreement With Threshold Electronics Limited

December 12, 2002 - Toronto, Ontario -- Threshold Electronics Limited (Threshold) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with ING Bank of Canada (ING DIRECT) for the provision of financial transaction switching, including both POS and Shared Cash issuer and acquirer traffic, and ABM (Automated Banking Machine) management services for ING DIRECT's national ABM network.

"We are excited that ING DIRECT has selected Threshold as its provider; they are the leader in Alternative and virtual Banking in Canada, and this is further confirmation that Threshold's service offering is technically superior," reported Matthew McIver, the company's president.

Threshold operates a state-of-the-art Mosaic Software switch which, when combined with Threshold's advanced management information and reporting systems, results in one of the most sophisticated switching and ABM management platforms available in the world today. The comprehensive Threshold service offering allows financial institutions the opportunity to break away from legacy based systems and benefit from a more efficient platform while, at the same time, gaining the ability to drive leading edge ABM technology.

"Threshold is a natural business partner for ING DIRECT," stated Robert Oakes, Manager, ABM Business and Special Projects for ING DIRECT. "Threshold offers a comprehensive suite of services, backed up by a highly competent team of industry professionals. Most impressive was Threshold's ability to meet our technical requirements and the efficiencies that they were able to bring to the operation."

About ING Bank of Canada

The ING DIRECT brand stands for high value, simple to use products that help Canadians save their money by offering high interest rates on deposits, low rates on loans and mortgages, with no fees or service charges.

ING DIRECT is a Canadian bank with over 700,000 accounts. ING DIRECT is the operating name for ING Bank of Canada - member CDIC. ING DIRECT is a member of ING, one of the top 20 financial services companies in the world. Customers can bank with ING DIRECT 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via www.ingdirect.ca or by calling 1-800-ING DIRECT.