Agreement Enables ACI Customers to Participate in Western Union's
ATM Money Transfer Network
OMAHA, Neb. and DENVER, May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- ACI Worldwide
(Nasdaq: TSAI), a leading international provider of enterprise e-payment
solutions, and Western Union Financial Services, Inc., a subsidiary of First
Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC) today announced they have agreed to add electronic
money transfer capability to ACI's widely used automated teller machine (ATM)
processing software. The software addition will allow ACI's customers
-- primarily financial institutions and ATM network owners -- to provide the
Western Union Money Transfer(R) service on their ATMs.
ACI will add the Western Union Money Transfer service to its BASE24(R)
e-payment processing software, which will expand the availability of Western
Union's ATM-based money transfer service to a broader range of ATMs and ATM
networks in the U.S. ACI also will provide services to help current BASE24
users easily integrate the new functionality into their existing platforms.
BASE24 is the industry standard for fault-tolerant, scalable e-payment
processing and currently powers some of the world's largest ATM and POS
networks. BASE24 users in the U.S. include 53 of the top 100 financial
institutions and seven of the top 10 ATM networks.
"By working with ACI to integrate our money transfer capabilities into
their BASE24 platform, we will more quickly expand the availability of our
services on ATMs around the country," said Mike Yerington, president of
Western Union North America. "The breadth of ACI's installed customer base
supports our goal of providing a wide range of alternative distribution
options to complement and grow our global agent network. This will make it
easy and convenient for consumers to access fast, secure and reliable money
transfer services whenever and wherever they need them."
"Our 25 years of e-payments expertise is one reason Western Union selected
ACI to help expand the availability of their services," said Mark Vipond,
president of ACI Worldwide. "The addition of Western Union ATM Money Transfer
services is just another of the many e-payment innovations we are adding to
our BASE24 platform. These innovations provide our customers with new
consumer services that can help them generate new revenue, as well as solidify
their positions as leading-edge providers."
The Western Union ATM Money Transfer service allows a consumer to
electronically send money using any participating ATM by simply swiping an ATM
card and then selecting the money transfer option. The user is prompted to
select a personalized code and the desired dollar amount to transfer. The ATM
provides the cardholder with a receipt and confirmation number. To complete
the money transfer, the sender relays the confirmation number and personalized
code to the intended recipient who can retrieve the funds from any
participating ATM. No bankcard is necessary to receive the funds, and because
the combination of the personalized code and confirmation number is unique for
every transaction, the process is designed to be safe and secure.
Unlike other person-to-person ATM-based money transfer systems that only
allow for money transfers between ATMs, the Western Union ATM Money Transfer
service will offer interoperability with Western Union's agent network of more
that 33,000 agent locations across the U.S.
Western Union acquired the cardless ATM transaction technology to provide
its money transfer services (also known as Z-Cash) through an exclusive
license agreement with Plano, Texas-based EDS. EDS provides the data
processing and transaction switching services to support the Western Union ATM
Money Transfer Network.
About Western Union Financial Services, Inc. and First Data Corp.
Western Union Financial Services, Inc., a subsidiary of First Data Corp.
(NYSE: FDC), is a worldwide leader in consumer money transfer services.
Consumers can quickly and reliably transfer money at approximately
104,000 agent locations in more than 185 countries and territories using the
Western Union and Orlandi Valuta money transfer networks. Famous for its
pioneering telegraph service, the original Western Union dates back to 1851
and introduced electronic money transfer service in 1871. Western Union is
celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2001. For more information, please visit
http://www.westernunion.com.
First Data Corp. powers the global economy. Serving nearly 2.5 million
merchant locations, more than 1,400 card issuers and millions of consumers,
First Data makes it easier, faster and more secure for people and businesses
to buy goods and services, using virtually any form of payment: credit,
debit, stored-value card or check at the point-of-sale, over the Internet or
by money transfer. For more information, please visit the company's Web site
at http://www.firstdata.com.
About ACI Worldwide
Every second of every day, consumers are initiating electronic payment
transactions -- getting cash at ATMs, using debit and credit cards to make
purchases in stores and on the Internet, banking by phone and PC, paying bills
online. Twenty billion times a year, ACI Worldwide (Nasdaq: TSAI) software is
used to process these transactions, powering the world's online payment
systems. ACI was founded in 1975 and pioneered the development of
applications and networking software for online transaction processing. Today
more than 2,000 customers in 78 countries use ACI supplied software. Visit
ACI on the Internet at http://www.aciworldwide.com.
SOURCE First Data Corp.; ACI Worldwide
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Related links:
http://www.firstdata.com
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/138116.html or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 138116
CONTACT:
Gene Hinkle of ACI Worldwide, 402-390-8906,
hinkleg@aciworldwide.com; or Wendy Carver-Herbert of Western
Union Financial Services, Inc., 303-967-6416,
wendy.carver@firstdatacorp.com
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