Broadridge and Pitney Bowes Launch New Interactive Technology Platform, Inlet™, To Drive Paperless Adoption

NEW YORK – June 9, 2014 -- Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR)  and Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) today announced the formation of a joint venture and launch of a technology platform named Inlet™ that will make it easier for companies to distribute statements, bills and other documents to consumers via participating online channels. Inlet will enable companies to provide millions of consumers access to their most important documents from hundreds of providers in just a few clicks.  

Broadridge Financial Solutions and Pitney Bowes also announced that iPay Solutions™ from ProfitStars, a division of Jack Henry & Associates, Inc., will be rolling out the Inlet platform to their financial institution clients starting in early 2015.

For businesses, Inlet facilitates the distribution of documents to consumer-selected channels such as cloud storage and online banking sites, while also providing companies with the ability to maintain brand control and customize the document presentment experience. Additionally, they will have access to bank-level safety and security, rich analytics and a data exchange that can further optimize customer engagement. Inlet also offers the benefit of a streamlined implementation where companies only need to integrate with Inlet once to experience the advantage of reaching multiple destinations and millions of U.S. consumers.

For consumers, the Inlet platform works behind the scenes, connecting them to the online channels they already frequent and trust; easing the stress of managing a multitude of documents in today’s fragmented online experience. Inlet helps companies provide greater choice and efficiency to their consumers.  For example, via Inlet, companies will give their customers the comfort of knowing that their key documents will be securely archived and easily accessible for up to seven years.

“With Inlet, companies will see an increase in paperless adoption, greater brand loyalty, lowered servicing and delivery costs, and clear insights into consumer behaviors and trends,” said Chuck Cordray, CEO of Inlet, LLC.  “Inlet changes the way companies and consumers connect online by providing both businesses and consumers with a more effective and efficient way to communicate.”

iPay Solutions will execute a gradual roll-out of Inlet technology to the more than 4,000 financial institutions to which it provides bill payment services. Consumers will have the option to view full invoices from more than 170 billers initially, and there are plans to expand that number rapidly after the initial roll-out. The Inlet technology will allow consumers to not only receive the full invoices, but also view marketing materials that would have otherwise been sent via mail.

As part of the first phase of this launch, the Inlet platform will have content flowing from the following sources:

• FileThis™, a secure online service that fetches important documents, including bills and bank statements, from hundreds of the largest companies in the country. Through Inlet’s relationship with FileThis, the content will feed directly into the Inlet platform where it will be delivered to consumers via channels such as iPay.
• Pitney Bowes’ Mailstream on Demand solution gives small-to-medium sized billers a variety of delivery options, including Inlet for digital delivery of their transactional documents. To start, and in addition to the FileThis content, Inlet will allow more than 175,000 monthly documents from Mailstream on Demand the option of flowing into the technology platform.
• Broadridge will deliver investment industry content through its relationships with thousands of financial services companies, including banks, broker-dealers, mutual funds, as well as corporate issuers. Content will include monthly statements, trade confirmations, tax documents and regulatory disclosures. 

The Inlet technology platform will be delivered through Amazon Web Services, a secure, cloud-based infrastructure.  For identity verification, Inlet is working with ID DataWeb, whose technology is designed to enable the guiding principles laid out in the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC).

“With Inlet, we are bringing together leaders from a host of different industries to form an alliance and create innovative solutions to facilitate digital communications now and in the future,” said Doug DeSchutter, President, U.S. Regulatory and Digital Communications, Broadridge.

“Our goal is to serve our clients’ communications needs and to provide solutions for industry problems,” said Christoph Stehmann, President of Ecommerce and Shipping Solutions, Pitney Bowes. “Until today, the multi-channel communications delivery world lacked digital document delivery eco-systems that could provide a secure, streamlined, interactive and data-rich experience that benefits companies and consumers alike.”

As a joint venture, Inlet incorporates the industry and information security expertise of two trusted organizations - Broadridge Financial Solutions and Pitney Bowes. Each parent company holds 50% ownership. For more information about Inlet, visit: www.InletDigital.com.