Federal Reserve Banks and Equens Start Strategic Partnership for Cross-Border Payments

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota and UTRECHT, The Netherlands - The Federal Reserve Banks and Equens have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the processing of payments from the US to Europe and vice versa. Starting in early 2010, both parties will offer banks a cost-efficient channel for processing cross-border payments in multiple currencies, including the US dollar and euro.

Compared to the number of domestic transactions, cross-border payments can be characterised by relatively low transaction volumes and high associated fixed costs. The cross-border service offering from the Federal Reserve Banks and Equens will support banks in further reducing their processing cost base, and strengthen their competitive position in the market.

The strategic partnership between the Federal Reserve Banks and Equens is based on an increasing market demand for efficient processing of low-value cross-border payments on a global level. Both organisations are also members of the International Payments Framework (IPF) - a collaborative effort among public and private payment groups in Africa, Europe, North America and South America.

The partnership with Equens is an important element of the FedGlobalSM ACH Services which were recently introduced at the Payments 2009 conference in Orlando (US). “When talking with clients, we saw a clear demand for expanded payment services to and from Europe. Together with payment processor Equens, we can offer our clients an excellent, secure and cost-efficient solution”, says Elizabeth McQuerry, Assistant Vice President of the Federal Reserve Banks’ Retail Payments Office.

Equens, one of the largest payment processors in Europe, is delighted about the strategic partnership. “The partnership with the Federal Reserve Banks is an important step for Equens and fits well with our vision on a global payments area. We are constantly looking for economies of scale, thereby creating opportunities for our clients - the banks - to further reduce their processing costs. By offering a standardised channel for cross-border payments processing, our clients do not have to worry about the complexity of maintaining different cross-border systems”, says Michael Steinbach, Chairman of Equens’ Board of Directors.

The partnership with the Federal Reserve Banks will enable Equens to further expand its cross-border payments processing business. Equens currently processes cross-border payments in multiple currencies for the German DZ BANK.

Note to Editors

About the Federal Reserve Banks’ FedACH(R) Services

The Federal Reserve Banks are collectively the largest ACH operator in the United States, with almost 40 years of experience and ACH expertise. The Federal Reserve Banks strive to provide reliable, high-quality and cost-effective ACH services to financial institutions across the country. Serving more than 21,000 ACH participants, our dependability and commitment to service enable depository financial institutions to provide high-quality ACH services.

For additional information, please visit www.fbrservices.org

About Equens

Equens SE is the first truly pan-European, full-service payment processor. As one of the largest and most innovative payment processors in Europe, Equens is leading the market for future-proof payments and card processing solutions. Thanks to an extensive and competitive service portfolio and a flexible, customer-orientated approach, the company seamlessly meets the requirements of the European payments market. With an annual processing volume of 7.9 billion payments and 2.2 billion POS and ATM transactions, Equens has a market share of more than 15% within the eurozone. Equens has offices in four countries - the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Finland - and provides pan-European market coverage through services to clients in eight European countries.

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

Source: The Federal Reserve Banks and Equens

FSPC contact: David Fettig, FSPC Spokesman, +1-612-204-5274, david.fettig at mpls.frb.org. Equens contact: Marcel Woutersen, +31-(0)30-283-54-27, +31-(0)-629-05-08-71. Annemieke Lambregts, +31-(0)30-283-50-27, +31-(0)650-21-30-91. Jorg Richter, +49-(0)69-589993-60362, +49-(0)-172-6139597