Lloyds TSB's Commercial Finance arm is to launch its first web-services application to customers in July.

The 'FirstCheck' credit reference service will be the first time a Lloyds TSB product has been converted from a clerical, manual process to an automated, internet-based service using web-services technology.

Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance (LTCF) ebusiness development manager Martin Walmsley told Computing that web services, which automate connections between sites, will change the way his company does business.

"Within five years, a significant part of LTCF's income will be built around automated services," he said. "FirstCheck is a pilot for similar projects in other parts of the group."

LTCF is working with Microsoft partner Solidsoft and uses BizTalk Server, an XML hub that is a key part of Microsoft's .Net web services strategy.

FirstCheck clients will enter a credit check request at one of the third-party business-to-business portals through which the service is provided.

The details are delivered as XML content to LTCF's BizTalk server, and an XML message is returned to the portal with the query results.

Walmsley expects clients to see an improvement. "It will be a virtually instantaneous response, rather than however long it takes to respond to a fax or telephone call, which might be more than a day," he said.

The project began towards the end of 2000, and Walmsley described it as "a substantial piece of development work".

But the benefits are expected to be significant. "We believe the costs will be covered within a year," he said.

Longer term, the new technology will help increase LTCF's 6000-strong client base.

"We are looking to deliver the service to many thousands of businesses with whom we have no relationship. It will change our client base and develop a new income stream," said Walmsley.

It may be new technology, but Walmsley advises other companies to stick to proven principles.

"It's not really different from any other piece of application development. It's the same disciplines, the same skills, the same requirements.

"But because we're working with third parties it creates an additional need to ensure the requirements definition is clearly understood, agreed and approved," he said.