CBS.MARKETWATCH.COM Profiles First International Bank on the Future of Industrial E-Business Marketplaces

HARTFORD, Conn., April 11, 2000 – First International Bank expects industrial e-business marketplaces to have a tremendous impact on the commercial lending industry, driving up loan volume while lowering the cost of finding new customers, according to the bank’s CEO and Chairman, Brett N. Silvers. Silvers’ comments can be heard in a taped broadband interview currently posted on www.cbs.marketwatch.com. First International Bank is a subsidiary of First International Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: FNCE).

Silvers describes how First International looked at the development of business-to-business e-commerce on the Internet and saw online financing as a logical extension of the bank’s long-time strategy of lending to industrial companies worldwide. During the past month, the bank has announced agreements with four online industrial marketplaces serving the steel, energy, railroad and machine tool sectors. Other alliances are in the works with marketplaces specializing in textiles, chemicals, plastics and oilfield services. The bank will provide automated credit for these marketplaces up to $5 million per transaction supported by Riscope(sm), its proprietary commercial credit scoring system, and ThruCredit®, its technological solution for e-business financing.

"The Internet will become a major distribution channel for the bank," said Silvers, who also noted that geography is no longer a barrier to finding desirable customers. In 1999, First International demonstrated its expertise in cross-border lending, closing 107 U.S. Export-Import Bank loans to industrial companies in the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. First International has been the top U.S. Export-Import Bank lender in the world measured by number of transactions for three straight years.

First International Bank (www.upscapital.com) and First International Bancorp, Inc. specialize in providing innovative credit, trade and financial solutions to small and medium size industrial companies located in the United States and international emerging markets. The company, based in Hartford, Conn., is the nation’s most active combined user of loan guarantee programs made available by the U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Export-Import Bank. During 1999, the company originated $551 million in loans primarily within its industrial niche, bringing the managed portfolio including loans on-balance sheet and serviced for investors to $1.076 billion.

The company has SBA preferred lender status in 21 districts, USDA certified lender status in several states, and Ex-Im AA delegated authority for export working lines of credit on a national basis. The company operates domestic representative offices in Boston, MA, Cleveland, OH, Detroit, MI, Hartford, CT, Miami, FL, Morristown, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, Pittsburgh, PA, Providence, RI, Rochester, NY, Springfield, MA, St. Louis, MO, and Washington, DC. It also has international representatives in Argentina, Brazil, Central America, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, North Africa, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Turkey and West Africa.

CONTACT:

First International Bank:
Michele Zommer
(860) 241-4705
zommerm@firstinterbank.com