Hartford Bank Offers Finance for
e-Commerce Transactions
| By Gordon Platt |
April 26, 2000
|
First International
Bank, Hartford, Conn., has signed a series of deals with business-to-business
exchanges to automate credit for traders of steel, energy, machine tools and
railroad industry products and services.
The bank will offer 14 different types of commercial loans, worth up to $5
million per transaction, including basic bonding facilities, working capital
lines and equipment loans, barter and import/export financing programs.
It said these commercial loans provide significantly greater credit availability
than the $100,000 maximum "credit card" levels typical of the online
business loan market today.
The bank uses a proprietary commercial credit scoring system that applies to
industrial companies, including railroad operators, general contractors,
subcontractors, suppliers and service providers.
First International announced
agreements with MachineTools.com, RailNet-USA.com, Enermetrix.com and e-STEEL
Corp. to make the credit products available to their members.
FIRST INTERNATIONAL TARGETS
B2B SECTOR
"We believe e-STEEL represents the leading edge of how the industrial B2B
sector, including small and medium-size companies that are First
International's core market, will transact business in the
21st century," said Brett N. Silvers, First International
Bank's chairman and chief executive.
Silvers said the bank's partnership with RailNet-USA.com will bring significant
efficiencies to the railroad sector in the area of financing.
RailNet-USA.com was formed in 1999 by Internos Corp., Dulles, Va., which creates
online communities to facilitate B2B communications and commerce in highly
fragmented, traditionally paper-intensive industries.
MachineTools.com, Chicago, was launched in August 1999 to provide an electronic
marketplace for buyers and sellers of machines and related services. n