Board Appointment

Optimal Payments Plc

Optimal Payments announces appointment of Stephen Shaper as non-executive director

LONDON, England - Thursday 29th March 2012 - Optimal Payments Plc (LSE: OPAY), a leading provider of online payments solutions, is pleased to announce the appointment of Stephen Shaper to the Board as Non-Executive Director with immediate effect.

Steve has 35 years of experience in the payments industry. He is currently a consultant and board member of Think Finance, the largest US internet small loan company, and a director and founder of Middlemarch Capital Corp, a US private equity business focused on high technology growth companies. Steve was formerly Executive Vice President at PreCash, a privately owned US payments business, responsible for sales, and served on its board of directors. He purchased and expanded Telecheck franchises to become the largest cheque verification and guarantee service in the US, finally selling the business to First Data Corporation. Steve also served as a consultant and chairman of Optimal Payments Inc., a TSX listed company, for 7 years until February 2007.

Dale Johnson, Chairman, said "The Board and I are very pleased that Steve is joining the Optimal Payments Board as a non-executive director. With the substantial breadth and depth of his payments experience and expertise, both in the US and internationally, Steve will be a strong contributor to the Board."

# # #

For further information contact:

Optimal Payments Plc

Andrew Gilchrist + 44 (0) 1624 698 713

EVP Corporate Affairs

Email:  [email protected]

Twitter: https://twitter.com/optimalpayments

Citigate Dewe Rogerson + 44 (0) 207 638 9571

Angharad Couch / Priscilla Garcia

Canaccord Genuity Limited + 44 (0) 207 050 6500

Simon Bridges / Kit Stephenson

Regulatory information

In the past five years, Stephen Shaper (age 75) is or has been a director of the following entities, all of which are registered in the United States of America, except where noted otherwise:

Current directorships

Middlemarch Capital Corporation

Think Finance, Inc.

Mickie Service Company, Inc.

Direct Connect LLC

Former directorships

Associated Building Services Inc.

CDP Corporation

Convergent Investors

Metal Oxide Technologies Inc.

PreCash,, Inc.

Stock-Trak (Canada)

TerraVista Corp.

Save as disclosed in this announcement, there is no further information that is required to be disclosed pursuant to

Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

About Optimal Payments Plc

Trusted by businesses and consumers in over 180 countries to move and manage billions of dollars each year, Optimal Payments Plc is the leading payments company offering a true alternative to banks and card schemes. Merchants use the NETBANX® processing service to simplify how they accept and settle card, direct-from-bank, and cash payments; and the NETELLER® payment account to increase margins, capture new customers and increase their lifetime value. Being independent has allowed the company to support tens-of-thousands of retailers and merchants in many geographies and across multiple industries.

Optimal Payments Plc is quoted on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market, with a ticker symbol of OPAY. Subsidiary company NETELLER (UK) Ltd is authorised and regulated as an e-money issuer by the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA). For more information about Optimal Payments visit www.optimalpayments.com or subscribe at www. optimalpayments.com/feed.