First Data International Signs New Latin American Clients

Processing Center, S.A. (PROCESA), a First Data company offering payment processing solutions customized for its clients in Latin America and the Caribbean, will provide card issuing processing services to these financial institutions.

Bank of Bahamas will use PROCESA's services for its credit card and prepaid portfolios. The credit card portfolios of Fidelity Bank, located in the Cayman Islands, will convert to the PROCESA platform for account processing. In addition, PROCESA will support a prepaid product for the New England Bankcard Association's client Butterfield Bank (Barbados) Ltd.

"We are pleased to join with PROCESA to provide leading-edge prepaid card products for our newest client in Barbados and the Butterfield Bank family," said Ted Keith, president, New England Bankcard Association (NEBA). "We are looking forward to continuing to expand our service offering to financial institutions across the Caribbean."

"These agreements signal the great success of PROCESA since its inception just over two years ago, and we are grateful for the opportunity to work with these leading financial institutions in this region," said Pam Patsley, president, First Data International. "These companies selected First Data based on their confidence in our ability to provide flexible and competitive services that allow them to grow and expand their businesses."

"PROCESA is a true success story for First Data's international strategy," said Peter Harrington, president, Latin America and Canada. "We provide market-tailored solutions and a regionally experienced staff to bring our clients an unmatched product and service offering in the region."

Across Latin America, First Data provides a variety of card issuing and merchant acquiring processing services, Western Union(R) money transfer and related payment services. PROCESA, located in Panama City, Panama, uses First Data's VisionPLUS(R) platform to offer flexible and diverse payment processing services for credit, prepaid, gift and corporate cards. Together with its global network, First Data has the ability to service clients in this region from offices in Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and Florida.