FIRST ECOM.COM AND MICROSOFT ENTER INTO AGREEMENT TO CREATE E-COMMERCE PAYMENT GATEWAY MODULE FOR MICROSOFT PRODUCTS HONG KONG (July 19, 1999)/PRNIHK-AsiaNet/ -- First Ecom.com Inc, a leading Internet payment service provider for companies based outside North America, today announced it has entered into a development services agreement with Microsoft Hong Kong Limited. Under the agreement, Microsoft will develop a payment gateway module for its Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition, designed to integrate with First Ecom.com's e-commerce payment back-end, providing real-time settlement capability for online merchants. The key feature of the module being multi-currency processing enabling e-commerce for a worldwide market. The project is expected to be completed in approximately one month. About First Ecom.com First Ecom.com (OTC BB: FECC) is a leading provider of online payment processing services for merchants outside of North America. Through a series of strategic alliances, First Ecom.com approves merchants and processes transactions in a tax-neutral jurisdiction without the need for using U.S. banking institutions or U.S.-based ISPs. FEC offers online credit card processing solutions for merchants in their preferred currency. For more information on First Ecom.com visit our web site at www.firstecom.com. Issued by Citigate Technology on behalf of First Ecom.com, Inc. For further information please contact: Michael Dunn or Sylvia Doulaverakis Citigate Technology 11F, Chinachem Hollywood Centre, 1 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2521 0633 Fax: (852) 2543 3534 Email: [email protected] Source: Citigate Technology