ABN AMRO and Oracle are reported to be developing a financial services package for users of Oracle's online business-to-business (B2B) exchange software.

Oracle, generally considered to be one of the leading providers of online software solutions, and ABN AMRO are already establishing a transaction and payment processing centre in Dublin, where the software giant already has a service centre for its operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

As well as a range of banking services, ABN AMRO will bring the Identrus digital certification system to the package so that users will be able to verify the identity of parties to a transaction. The Dutch banker is a founding equity participant in Identrus.

The package will allow users to conduct cross-border letter of credit transactions. Other facilities to be made available will include online card transactions, funds transfers and payment guarantees.

The agreement between ABN AMRO and Oracle provides further confirmation that technology companies need not only the skills and resources but also the levels of trust with customers developed by major financial institutions.

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