Chase Paymentech Launches Major European Expansion

In his new role, Fitzpatrick is charged with oversight of all Chase Paymentech European operations, marketing initiatives and customer support activities. Fitzpatrick will be based in Dublin, Ireland. The appointment will be formally announced at the European Direct Response Forum in Dublin, taking place May 13-15.

"Chase Paymentech is an acknowledged payments leader in the United States," said Duffy. "We expect that Shane's leadership of our European expansion will serve to expand our capabilities to drive the growth of our merchants, who desire to operate without geographical payment borders. His experience, insight and advisory skills will complement our positive momentum in the region."

Regional recruitment for sales and payment professionals is planned as part of the expansion strategy.

Today's announcement is a major step in comprehensive strategy that will encompass a series of global and cross-border ACH initiatives. As part of this wider initiative, John Shirey, group manager, will undertake a new assignment to further develop Chase Paymentech's expansion in the Asia Pacific region. Additional details on further plans will be announced later this year.

A native of Dublin, Shane Fitzpatrick is a prominent European industry expert on best practices in billing and payment processing. He brings nearly 20 years of industry experience to his new role, as well as his extensive network of contacts in the European payment processing and financial services industry.

Formerly, Fitzpatrick had served as AOL's director and general manager for European operations before founding Zenith Finance International, a financial services and business innovation consultancy firm. Fitzpatrick has also chaired a number of boards at Time Warner International.

Notably, Fitzpatrick is co-founder and chairman of the European Direct Response Forum, founded in 2003 for ecommerce merchants to share knowledge in the consumer payments, service and fulfillment areas. The Euro-DRF is sponsored by Chase Paymentech, and is an extension of the Direct Response Forum in the United States, formed in 1990 and generally considered to be the primary network forum for card-not-present merchants.

Chase Paymentech manages more than half of all US retail internet payment transactions. The company established its European operation in 2002, after having processed payment transactions in the region for more than 13 years. In late 2006, Chase Paymentech signed an agreement with First Data International to utilize its OmniPay processing solution, to service the company's portfolio of global ecommerce merchants. The OmniPay platform processes payment transactions in most major currencies on a single platform and provides Chase Paymentech with a range of global wholesale payment services that are compliant with cross-border card schemes and local regulations.

The European expansion has been designed, in part, to anticipate market opportunities arising from the formation of an internal market for payments in Europe. The SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) initiative was introduced to foster substantial economies of scale and involves the creation of an area in which all payments are considered domestic. The project aims to improve the efficiency of European cross-border payments and to develop common instruments, standards, procedures and infrastructures by 2010.

"Our goal is to substantially increase the awareness of our payments network on a worldwide basis," said Fitzpatrick. "These expansion plans have been developed to combine the efficiencies of global scale with the recognition of Europe's unique business and economic environment. This expansion differentiates Chase Paymentech from other European merchant acquiring brands and increases our ability to compete using our substantial existing assets, including powerful relationships and world-class payments network."

In preparation for this move, the company had already begun to forge relationships with leading United Kingdom-based ecommerce businesses, offering efficiencies of scale, superior service and reporting capabilities and unequaled spectrum of consumer payment choice.