15th Dec 2006 07:58
Standard Chartered PLC15 December 2006 STANDARD CHARTERED PLC AND FIRST DATA FORM MERCHANT ACQUIRING ALLIANCE ACROSS ASIA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Standard Chartered PLC ('Standard Chartered') announces that Standard Charteredand First Data International, a leader in electronic commerce and paymentservices around the world, have entered into an agreement to jointly establish anew company to provide merchant acquiring services to merchants across Asia. Headquartered in Singapore, the new company called 'Merchant Solutions PteLtd.', with its local subsidiaries in seven initial markets across Asia, willsupport Standard Chartered merchant clients with an expanded range of First Dataproducts and services for debit and credit cards, as well as additional forms ofelectronic payments such as contactless and prepaid card acceptance. Inaddition, Merchant Solutions will provide sales support with First Datasupplying front-end and back-end switching services. Under the terms of the agreement, Merchant Solutions, will comprise 56 percentownership held by First Data and 44 percent by Standard Chartered, through itswholly-owned subsidiary, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited. Standard Chartered will transfer gross assets valued at approximately US$1million into the alliance. This transaction is subject to certain regulatoryapprovals, and is expected to complete by October 2007. For further information, contact: Stephen Atkinson, Head of Investor RelationsTel: +44 20 7280 [email protected] Ruth Naderer, Head of Investor Relations, Asia PacificTel : +852 2820 [email protected] Sean Farrell, Head of Media RelationsTel: +44 20 7280 [email protected] This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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