[March 06, 2006]

U.S. Bank UPIC(R) Secure Account Identifier Offers Additional Level of Fraud Security to Business Customers

MINNEAPOLIS --(Business Wire)-- March 6, 2006 -- (NYSE:USB) U.S. Bank is offering an additional level of fraud security to business customers with U.S. Bank UPIC(R) secure account identifier. A UPIC (Universal Payment Identification Code) is a unique identifier that masks the actual bank account numbers of business customers when electronic payments take place.

"Our business customers that are using U.S. Bank UPIC are finding it to be an innovative tool that makes fraud protection easier," said Roxanne Luick, assistant vice president, Automated Clearing House (ACH) product manager for U.S. Bank Treasury Management Services.

U.S. Bank UPIC keeps confidential the actual banking information of a U.S. Bank customer receiving an ACH payment through the UPIC. The customer's business partners who originate the ACH payments will not see or have access to the actual banking information, which helps prevent unauthorized payments from occurring.

No system changes are needed to accounts payable, accounts receivable or cash management systems to use a UPIC. A UPIC looks and acts like a standard bank account number, and travels through the ACH network with the Universal Routing and Transit number. However, a UPIC can only be used for ACH credit payments. A UPIC cannot be used to electronically debit an organization's account or create a check or demand draft, thus reducing the risk of unauthorized debits. The UPIC can be printed on invoices, provided on matching gift forms and displayed on the Internet without risk of fraudulent debits. Actual bank account information is kept private.

A UPIC becomes an organization's permanent electronic payment address. Portability of the UPIC reduces the effort required in changing accounts due to bank mergers or changes in banking relationships, including the cost of communicating new bank account information to trading partners.

UPIC is a product offering and a registered trademark of the Electronic Payments Network (EPN), a business unit of The Clearing House Payments Company. EPN is the nation's only private-sector Automated Clearing House (ACH) operator, and processes 40 percent of all ACH payments in the United States. EPN is the only ACH operator offering this risk management tool.

About EPN and The Clearing House Payments Company

The Electronic Payments Network (www.epaynetwork.com), a payments business of The Clearing House Payments Company, is the only national private-sector ACH operator in the United States. Its membership consists of more than 1,600 commercial banks, credit unions and savings banks. EPN processed more than 3.4 billion payments in 2005. The Clearing House (www.theclearinghouse.org) is a private-sector, global payment systems infrastructure that clears and settles more than 25 million payments for $1.5 trillion per day. The Clearing House manages payment services that span the entire spectrum of paper, paper-to-electronic and electronic payments.

About U.S. Bank

U.S. Bank is a subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB). With $209 billion in assets, U.S. Bancorp is the 6th largest financial holding company in the United States. The company operates 2,419 banking offices and 5,003 ATMs in 24 states, and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at www.usbank.com.

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