(September 11 – 09:50 ET) – Bank of Montreal and NewSys Solutions Inc., an Ottawa-based information and communications company, have signed a letter of intent to launch Internet business centres for small and mid-sized companies across Canada.
Under the agreement BMO will pay setup fees and licensing fees to NewSys on terms to be finalized, and NewSys will grant BMO options on 500,000 common shares. NewSys’ wholly owned subsidiary, InBusiness.com Inc., will own and operate regional online business centres customized for BMO and the bank’s business client base of more than 450,000 businesses.
The centres will offer services such as: e-news, on-ine business services, business reference and self-help materials, practical business tools and applications, marketplace suites for automatic match-making of buyers and sellers, and e-commerce transaction fulfillment.
“Our customers are telling us they look for local information on the Internet, and these sites deliver that,” said Frank Techar, senior vice president small business banking at BMO. “Customers will also be able to click through to www.bmo.com and use a range of online banking options, including business loans, bidding for contracts, online billing and online investing.”
BMO and InBusiness.com expect to introduce the first pilot business centre this fall in Ottawa. Others will follow shortly afterwards.
-IE Staff