wellsfargo.com mobile banking unit

Press Release - Wells Fargo - March 2001

Banking Pioneer Introduces The WellsFargo.com Bus Bringing the Bank to the Customer

Wells Fargo unveils next stage of anywhere, anytime banking as Bus travels along former stagecoach routes

Eugene, Ore. - From stagecoach to space age, Wells Fargo is entering 2001 with a banking odyssey that will feature a bus that would make the Jetsons envious.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) today christened The WellsFargo.com Bus, a uniquely customized motor coach designed to provide customer education and employee training virtually anywhere in the continental United States through secure, high-speed Internet access to wellsfargo.com. The bus is the first coach to be custom-built with business-grade satellite enabled Internet access and a virtual private network that meets Wells Fargo's requirements for secure online financial services on the Internet.The bus will be used as a mobile education center for both existing and potential Wells Fargo customers nationwide, including small business and commercial customers. With 16 Internet terminals on board and two outside Internet terminals, Wells Fargo customers can easily enroll for Internet access to personal accounts, pay bills, trade stocks or mutual funds online and apply for a wide variety of other online products and services. Customers can also apply online to open their first checking or savings account, apply for a credit card, home equity loan, online brokerage account or a retirement account with Wells Fargo."Wells Fargo has long been recognized as a trailblazer. From the original stagecoaches to the inception of online banking, we have been at the forefront of bringing the bank directly to the customer," said Clyde Ostler, group executive vice president of Internet Services at Wells Fargo. "The WellsFargo.com Bus will unite customers and employees nationwide - and bring the next stage of financial services directly to their front door."

The 45-foot long, 26-ton Wells Fargo.com Bus has three servers and 15 miles of wiring. After its launch in Eugene, it will travel along the I-5 freeway to Seattle (a former Wells Fargo stagecoach route). The bus will then bring Internet banking and online brokerage to consumers and small business customers across the West. The tour will also include visits to Denver; Las Vegas; Austin, Texas; El Paso, Texas; Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas; Tucson, Ariz.; Des Moines, Iowa; and Minneapolis.

At each stop, the bus will position itself in a prominent location in the city center. The bus crew will demonstrate wellfargo.com tools, calculators and financial services - and will be on site to answer questions and sign up new customers.

MCI Coach - August 2001
Back Seat

On the road and online with Wells Fargo

In 1852, Wells Fargo made a name for itself by sending its stagecoaches to new frontiers, revolutionizing the flow of mail, cash and commerce. Today, some 150 years later, the banking company is staging a new type of coach on yet another frontier—the information highway. This time, the cargo may be worth even more.

The Wells-Fargo.com coach, an MCI E4500 converted by Bruce Coach of Salmon Arm, British Columbia, under the direction of Web on Wheels, hit the streets in March with the latest wireless broadband internet technology and equipment including 16 internet terminals, six 42-inch plasma screens and two LCD screens. An additional two internet stations and an electric awning are located outside the coach. The coach also boasts an automatically deployable T3-capable satellite dish, a back-up camera and GPS navigation, along with a pioneering HVAC system and state-of-the-art stereo and entertainment options, and a Creston controller. Internet connections are as secure as they are fast.

With its bright red exterior graphics and interior goodies, the 26-ton coach is intended to introduce customers to online banking while also pulling double duty as a corporate vehicle for Wells Fargo training and recruitment.

James Knier, founder of the California-based Web on Wheels, says he chose the coach over other forms of mobile transport (such as a truck or trailer) because the motor coach offers a friendlier feel. "It's very approachable. [Motor coaches] are very attractive, and they're comfortable and reliable. We didn't consider any coach other than an MCI once we did our research." Knier, who has a background in museum and corporate environments, considers the coach a prototype and hopes to oversee many more such projects (Wells Fargo once had 150 stagecoaches—he's hoping to do 10 coaches for the company). He's especially proud of the convergent "don't try this at home" technologies, and that Web on Wheels was able to bring the project in on time and on budget. "It's about education, which is a higher calling than marketing. It's an enterprise solution."