Under the terms of the agreement, Atlanta-based SunTrust will continue to offer CheckFree Web, the industry's leading electronic billing and payment service, to its retail and small business clients.

CheckFree also will collaborate with SunTrust to help continue educating consumers and small business clients on the many benefits of electronic billing and payment services, from time savings to the prevention of identity theft and fraud, as part of the bank's overall client experience initiative.

"SunTrust recently launched an entirely new Web site for its online banking clients, one that is full of helpful information about online banking, how to pay bills online, tips for protecting against fraud and many other important facts," said Maureen Brady, SVP, Director of eBusiness for SunTrust. "Continuing our technology relationship with CheckFree confirms the premium we place on providing clients with the most advanced electronic billing and payment technologies available on the market today."

SunTrust's Bill Pay service, offered free of charge to all retail banking clients as part of its online banking services enhances the client experience in a number of ways, including:

• Flexibility - pay billers, friends, family or anyone - from SunTrust's easy-to-use, secure online portal
• Financial control - schedule how much, when, and from which SunTrust account a payment is to be sent and monitor the payment online
• Guaranteed payments - with SunTrust's protection against unauthorized transactions, clients know their payments will arrive securely and on-time

SunTrust also joins more than 40 financial institutions in selecting and implementing CheckFree FraudNet, a proactive fraud engine that scales and actually becomes smarter at detecting anomalies with increased transaction volumes. CheckFree FraudNet can help significantly reduce losses for participating banks, as well as provide data on attempted fraudulent transactions to help law enforcement officials apprehend and prosecute fraudsters.

The system combines CheckFree's cumulative knowledge of payment patterns and a sophisticated analytics engine to help financial services organizations detect and stop unauthorized payments before they are completed.

"SunTrust has been a valued CheckFree partner since 1995 and is one of the premier banking institutions in the country," said Jeff Weikert, senior vice president of the Consumer Service Provider business unit in CheckFree's Electronic Commerce Division. "As a technology innovator, we are excited to continue working with SunTrust for many years to come to deliver to its clients the most advanced, convenient and secure way to receive and pay their bills."