LEE, MA--(Marketwire - Nov 15, 2012) - [ eSignSystems ], a division of [ Wave Systems Corp. ] (NASDAQ: [ WAVX ]), today announced support and compliance with recently published guidelines by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) allowing electronic signatures on common mortgage origination documents, 4506-T and 4506-EZ. These forms are used for income verification and are a requirement of virtually all mortgage loans and loan modifications.

These IRS forms were the last remaining documents in the loan origination process that required a traditional wet-ink signature. With this obstacle removed, the entire loan origination process can now be completely automated with eDelivery and eSignatures, delivering a significant reduction in time, cost and convenience for mortgage originations.

With less than 60 days to go, January 7^th, 2013, marks the date that the IRS will begin accepting eSigned 4506-T documents, which will help further the adoption of eSignatures and paperless transactions throughout many financial business sectors. SmartSAFE provides all audit, reporting and record retention required of Income Verification Express Service (IVES) vendors. IVES vendors provide a critical part of the loan underwriting process, including verification of income with the IRS and other services such as quality control and data risk analysis.

By deploying the eSignSystems [ SmartSAFE ] solution IVES vendors can leverage 13 years of eSignature and compliance expertise built into a product that exceeds the IRS requirements. SmartSAFE's built-in audit trails and reporting features are critical to IVES vendor's supporting eSigned 4506-T documents. These same SmartSAFE features have been trusted for years in diverse financial services enterprises and now can help expand the services offered by IVES vendors.

"IVES vendors that choose SmartSAFE are provided with the ability to offer their own eSignature solutions, and can accept eSigned 4506-T forms from other vendors," said Kelly Purcell, Executive Vice President of Wave's eSignSystems division. "SmartSAFE provides the IVES technology backbone, making it easy to aggregate all 4506-Ts and provides a unified audit and reporting platform."

eSignSystems played an active role in helping to educate the IRS on the value and acceptance of eSignatures as a participant in the Mortgage Banking Association (MBA) ResTech IRS workgroup. Anticipating the passage of the IRS guidelines, the eSignSystems team has been preparing customers for the seamless addition of the 4506-T document, which will eliminate existing exception processes.

"IVES vendors have a great opportunity to expand the services they offer to customers by supporting the newly allowed 4506-T eSignatures," advised Purcell. "However, the IRS places specific obligations on IVES vendors handling eSigned 4506-Ts to warrant the validity of all eSigned documents, both in terms of the eSigning ceremony and document tamper detection, for a period of two years. A third party audit of procedures is also required for eSigned 4506-Ts, with specific audit metrics reported to the IRS annually."

Lenders and consumers can easily and confidently eSign 4506-T documents using the SmartSAFE SigningRoom, a virtual meeting place where documents can be delivered, reviewed, and eSigned in an environment that fully complies with ESIGN and UETA laws governing electronic records. SigningRoom is designed to provide a compliant ESIGN ceremony and the eSigned documents are securely reposed in SmartSAFE, each protected by a digital signature tamper-evident seal. The audit logs and tamper-evident seals are automatically collected by SmartSAFE and comprise everything needed to transfer to an IVES vendor to process, audit, and retain eSigned 4506-T documents. SigningRoom is an easy to use technology that supports the diverse platforms (PC, smartphones, tables, etc.) demanded by today's consumers.

About eSignSystems
eSignSystems, a division of Wave Systems Corp. (NASDAQ: [ WAVX ]), is a leading provider of lifecycle management of electronically signed, legally binding documents, contracts and digital transactions. SmartSAFE enables companies to manage business processes and transactions entirely online. Organizations can address certain regulatory compliance issues, improve productivity and efficiency in processing transactions, and achieve significant cost savings through the elimination of document transportation costs, processing and storage. For more information, visit [ www.esignsystems.com ].

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the statements of historical fact, the information presented herein constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include general economic and business conditions, the ability to fund operations, the ability to forge partnerships required for deployment, changes in consumer and corporate buying habits, chip development and production, the rapid pace of change in the technology industry and other factors over which Wave Systems Corp. has little or no control. Wave Systems assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

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