First Data Names Amrish Rau Country Manager For India

Reporting to Grant Lines, senior vice president, South Asia Business Development, Mr. Rau will be responsible for developing and implementing First Data International's strategy. His focus will be on building First Data's card and payment services business in India with an initial emphasis on its VisionPLUS® and merchant alliance programs.

"India is an important market for First Data and requires outstanding leadership to meet and exceed its goals for the region," said Greg Nash, managing director, Australia, New Zealand and South Asia. "Amrish's extensive experience in the IT, communication and financial services industries, combined with his previous success in building business in the Indian marketplace make him ideally suited for the role," he continued.

"This is an exciting opportunity to join First Data and to lead its new operation in my own country. Given my background in customer relationship management, electronic commerce and self service banking solutions, I am particularly looking forward to building First Data's presence in India," Mr. Rau said.

First Data's operations in India will initially be co-located with Western Union in its Mumbai office. Western Union, part of First Data, has a well-established presence in India with more than 20 banking alliances, together with a strategic partnership with India Post.

"We are delighted to be part of First Data's success around the globe "said Anil Kapur, regional vice president, Western Union South Asia. "It is a significant step to have a dedicated country manager to meet the dynamic demands of the one of the world's fastest growing economies for electronic commerce and payments."

Prior to joining First Data, Mr. Rau was general manager of the Teradata division of NCR Corporation India, where he led the CRM and Data Warehouse Solution Group. Before NCR, he worked in the financial services division of Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems addressing the technology requirements of Indian banks.