TopSoft Limited, the strategic Internet solutions integration subsidiary of Technology Venture Holdings Limited (HKSE: 0061), and Dah Sing Bank will create Hong Kong's first bank-hosted online credit-card payment gateway, together with a shopping mall platform. The solution will enable Dah Sing Bank's vendor community to accept secure online credit-card payments and to instantly create new Internet sales channels, without costly and time-consuming technology investment.

The TopSoft implementation provides a total end-to-end system for both merchants and consumers, with a high-performance online credit-card payment-enabled i-mall. It unites some of the most powerful Internet technology and e-commerce vendor offerings available, including Netlife's Payment Gateway, ServerPOS and ServerWallet; Intershop Communication's ePages for instantly functional cybershops; and a comprehensive roll-back and recovery database management system from Sybase.

"TopSoft congratulates Dah Sing Bank on making this excellent strategic move into e-commerce merchant, retail and credit card services," said Francis Ng, Managing Director of TopSoft Limited. "With its existing customer base of both credit-card merchants and individual credit-cardholders, the Bank is ideally placed to help define how business is carried out on the Internet in Hong Kong.

"Logically, banks have the best opportunity for driving the development of both the B2B and B2C e-commerce sectors. With TopSoft's integrated solution, Dah Sing Bank customers can take their business to the Net quickly and simply, without any specialist knowledge or development work."

By providing a total hosting solution instead of just a payment gateway, Dah Sing Bank intends to enhance its credit-card business with both online merchants and credit-cardholders. Integration of the Internet with the Bank's traditional payment systems will enable it to increase existing revenue streams and online banking services, as well as create new ones by attracting more online businesses and users as customers.

"This new system will help us face the increasing demands of e-commerce," said Derek Wong, Dah Sing Bank's Managing Director. "Dah Sing Bank is pleased to offer an innovative one-stop online business and shopping solution to both its retail merchants and Dah Sing credit-cardholders."

Components of the platform include some of the leading Internet technologies already implemented by leading banks and online businesses throughout the world. These include:-

* Netlife's international Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) standard-compliant Internet payment solution - the Netpay suite of Payment Gateway, ServerPOS and SeverWallet - which processes credit-cardholder information and executes online payment transaction clearance, integrated with the Bank's own back-office systems.

* The Intershop Application Servers and ePages electronic storefront solution to allow mass-deployment of thousands of Webshops within a single online shopping mall.

* Sybase's Adaptive Database XI, a powerful online database tool that can handle thousands of simultaneous users with sub-second response times and comprehensive data recovery functions in the event of system or disk crashes.

TopSoft is an independent subsidiary of Technology Venture Holdings Limited, a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Established in 1997, TopSoft specialises in the creation and integration of strategic B2B and B2C e-commerce solutions for businesses of all sizes wishing to extend their operations on to the Internet. It is a reseller for major Internet-enabling technology vendors, including Ardent Software, Computer Associates, Inprise, Intershop Communications, Mercury Interactive, NetLife, Oracle, Princeton Softech, Sun Microsystems, and Sybase Powersoft. Further information can be found on the company's Website at www.TopSoft.com.hk.

Dah Sing Bank, established in 1947, is one of the subsidiaries of the listed Dah Sing Financial Group. The Bank has been actively developing its retail banking business to provide comprehensive banking products, including Credit Cards, Virtual Cash, Mortgage Loans and Life Insurance, to name just a few. In addition, the Bank is now aggressively moving on its new dotcom business strategy - www.dahsing.com. Through the launch of its secure and advanced e-Banking Service, customers can check account balances, transfer funds, make payments, apply for credit-cards and personal loans, obtain online mortgage valuations and even get instant approvals via the Internet.

Netlife, founded in 1996 and based in Hamburg, is a leading provider of secure e-business solutions for financial institutions, service providers and merchants. The company's core activities are the development of applications for online banking, brokerage, mobile commerce and Internet payment, and their integration into existing IT infrastructures. Using Netlife's technology, companies can enable secure e-business transactions over non-traditional media, including the Internet and mobile networks. Netlife's Website address is www.netlife.fr.

Intershop Communications is the world's fastest growing provider of e-commerce software and solutions for the enterprise. Intershop software offers the quickest time-to-market today with the greatest flexibility for tomorrow. Intershop e-commerce solutions enable customers to Sell Anywhere by supporting the widest range of current and rapidly emerging e-commerce business models. With more than 100,000 licenses sold worldwide, Intershop customers include some of the world's largest commerce service providers and enterprises.

Sybase is one of the largest global independent software companies. Sybase helps businesses integrate, manage and deliver applications, content and data anywhere they are needed. The company's customers represent the industries leading the global economy, with strong concentrations in financial services, the public sector, telecommunications, media and healthcare. The company is leveraging core enterprise product strengths to capitalise on the emerging enterprise information portal market to provide powerful new solutions that deliver on the promise of e-Business. The company's Web address is www.sybase.com.