Bundesbank and Equens to Start Exchanging SEPA Payments

FRANKFURT and UTRECHT, The Netherlands, October 25, 2010 - Deutsche Bundesbank and Equens SE will establish a bilateral
link between their Clearing and Settlement Mechanisms (CSMs) for the
processing of SEPA Credit Transfers, starting in November 2010. The
interconnection between the CSM operated by Equens and the 'SEPA Clearer' of
the Retail Payment System (RPS), the Bundesbank's CSM, will allow them to
reciprocally exchange SEPA Credit Transfers on behalf of their respective
banking communities in a reliable, fast, and cost-efficient way. The
cooperation is based on the Technical Interoperability Framework designed by
the European Automated Clearing House Association (EACHA).

"We are pleased to contribute to the interoperability in
European retail payments by implementing an interCSM link between Equens and
the SEPA Clearer of Deutsche Bundesbank. The successful start of the
cooperation will allow clients connected to both CSMs to exchange SEPA Credit
Transfers with each other in a reliable, fast, and cost-efficient way," said
Carl-Ludwig Thiele, member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Bundesbank.

Michael Steinbach, Chairman of Equens' Board of Directors: "We
are always aiming to improve the services for our clients. The connection to
Deutsche Bundesbank's CSM community is an important step for us in gaining
full reach in Germany."

The new bilateral interoperability arrangement provides banks
which are connected to the Equens CSM with reach with the banks connected to
the Bundesbank's RPS SEPA Clearer and vice versa, with no need for connection
to the reachable CSM. The transactions exchanged between the two CSMs are
routed via SWIFT, whilst TARGET2 is used to perform the settlement.

Editorial note

Equens SE is one of the largest payment processors in Europe,
leading the market for future-proof payment and card solutions. Thanks to an
extensive and competitive range of services, the company seamlessly meets the
requirements and wishes of the European payments market. Equens supports the
development of a single, uniform European payments market (SEPA), and is
dedicated to the standardisation and harmonisation of European and global
payments. With clients and partnerships in multiple European countries, the
company offers pan-European market coverage from offices in four countries -
the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Finland. And with an annual processing
volume of 9.4 billion payments and 3.4 billion POS and ATM transactions,
Equens SE has a European market share of more than 12.5%.

The Deutsche Bundesbank is the central bank of the Federal
Republic of Germany and, thus, the "bankers' bank". Since 1999, it has been
an integral part of the Eurosystem, sharing responsibility with the other
national central banks and the European Central Bank for the single currency,
the Euro. The Bundesbank implements the monetary policy decisions of the
Governing Council of the ECB in Germany. Other core business areas include
the financial and monetary system, banking supervision, cash operations and
cashless payments.

In cashless payments, the Bundesbank fulfils its statutory
mandate to provide for the smooth settlement of payments in Germany and
abroad. In the field of retail payments processing, the Bundesbank offers a
system for interbank payments to all banks - and thus on a competitively
neutral basis - in the shape of its Retail Payment System (RPS) with 2.6
billion transactions processed in 2009.

For additional information on Equens, please visit
www.equens.com

Contacts: Deutsche Bundesbank, Susanne Kreutzer, Phone +49-69-9566-4231, Fax +49-69-956650-4231, presse-information at bundesbank.de. Equens: Marcel Woutersen, +31-(0)30-283-54-27, +31-(0)6-29-05-08-71. Annemieke Lambregts, +31-(0)30-285-50-27, +31-(0)6-50-21-30-91