10th Apr 2006 07:02
Planet Group Inc.10 April 2006 Date: 10 April 2006On behalf of: Planet Group, Inc. ("Planet Payment")Embargoed until: 0700hrs Planet Payment announces Standard Chartered Bank's Personalised Pricing Serviceis now at over 200 Merchant Locations in Hong Kong Planet Group Inc., the multi currency payment processor (LSE:AIM: PPTR and PPTfor restricted and unrestricted shares respectively), today announces that aninnovative personalized pricing service is now available through StandardChartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited (Standard Chartered) at more than 200merchant locations throughout Hong Kong. The service, Dynamic CurrencyConversion (DCC), targets international travellers and is provided by PlanetPayment. The adoption and rollout of the new DCC service demonstrates StandardChartered's commitment to providing its credit card merchants withstate-of-the-art system capabilities, enabling these merchants to be wellequipped to capture business opportunities among international consumers. This innovative service offers international consumers travelling in Hong Kong areal-time choice of currencies in which to settle transactions. Cardholdersbenefit by not having to wait until they return home to discover what theirtransactions actually cost in their native currency. The service also makesfilling out expense forms upon returning home much easier and simpler.Customers using a non-Hong Kong credit card are offered a choice of currenciesat the point of sale (the local currency of Hong Kong Dollar, or the currencythey understand best - their own). Currency conversion only occurs at the pointof sale if the cardholder selects to pay in his or her native currency. DCC isavailable to customers presenting valid Visa or MasterCard cards and can bebilled in American Dollar, Australian Dollar, British Pound Sterling, CanadianDollar, ECM Euro, Hong Kong Dollar, Japanese Yen, New Taiwan Dollar, New ZealandDollar, Singapore Dollar and Swiss Franc. The service, designed by Planet Payment, offers clarity and convenience toconsumers, as well as a number of benefits to the card merchant. The service isintended to help merchants attract more customers and sell more products byproviding international customers with the choice to view prices and shop intheir home currency. Planet Payment also offers transactional data managementand reporting to merchants, providing them with additional tools to make moreinformed business decisions. Tyrrell Schmidt, Standard Chartered's Country Head for Credit Cards and PersonalLoans, said: "Our new Dynamic Currency Conversion service is an important addition to ourwide range of innovative products and award winning solutions that we makeavailable to our customers, whether merchants or cardholders. Since ourroll-out of DCC in December of last year, the response from our merchants hasbeen overwhelming, reflecting the strength of the product." Commenting on the partnership with Standard Chartered, Philip Beck, Chairman andChief Executive of Planet Payment, said: "Planet Payment is very proud to announce this latest milestone in the AsiaPacific region, which forms an important part of our strategy. In StandardChartered we are delighted to be working with such a capable and innovativepartner. Hong Kong is an exciting and important market for Planet Payment, fromwhich we can build our presence in the Asia Pacific Region." -Ends- Enquiries to: Emma Kane / Andrew DunnRedleaf Communications Ltd Tel: 020 7955 1410(PR Adviser to Planet Group, Inc.) Notes to Editors: About Planet Payment Planet Payment is the trade name for Planet Group, Inc (LSE:AIM: PPTR and PPTfor restricted and unrestricted shares respectively). Further information onPlanet Payment can be found at: www.planetpayment.com Planet Payment is a multi-currency payment processor, enabling processors,acquiring banks and their merchants to accept, process and reconcile credit cardtransactions in multiple currencies, and allowing international cardholders toview prices and settle transactions in their native currency when travellingabroad. Planet Payment's systems also enable it to provide enhanced datareporting and data mining to merchants who are using multiple systems indifferent countries. The Planet Payment business was established in 1999 and Planet Group, Inc. islisted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Planet Payment isheadquartered in New York and in the Asia Pacific Region has offices inSingapore and Hong Kong. Standard Chartered - leading the way in Asia, Africa and the Middle East The history of Standard Chartered in Hong Kong dates back to 1859. It iscurrently one of the SAR's three note-issuing banks. Standard Charteredincorporated its Hong Kong business on 1 July 2004, and now operates as alicensed bank in Hong Kong under the name of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong)Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Chartered PLC. Standard Chartered PLC is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the StockExchange of Hong Kong and is ranked in the top 25 among FTSE-100 companies, bymarket capitalisation. Standard Chartered has a history of over 150 years inbanking and is in many of the world's fastest growing markets. It has anextensive global network of over 1,200 branches (including subsidiaries,associates and joint ventures) in 56 countries in the Asia Pacific Region, SouthAsia, the Middle East, Africa, the United Kingdom and the Americas. As one ofthe world's most international banks, Standard Chartered employs over 44,000people, representing 89 nationalities, worldwide. Serving both Consumer andWholesale Banking customers, the Bank combines deep local knowledge with globalcapability to offer a wide range of innovative products and services as well asaward winning solutions. Standard Chartered is committed to be the RightPartner to all our stakeholders by living its values in its approach to managingits people, exceeding expectations of its customers, making a difference in thecommunities that we operate in and working with its regulators. The Bank istrusted across its network for its standard of governance and corporateresponsibility. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Standard Chartered