ATLANTA, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The United States Court of Appeals  for
the District of Columbia Circuit on Wednesday granted a rehearing before the
full court and vacated an earlier decision by a three-judge panel of the court
in a case that had challenged the Federal Reserve Board's approval of an
investment by National City Corporation in Electronic Payment Services, Inc.
(EPS), the nation's leading electronic funds transfer (EFT) processor.  The
court's now-vacated April 23, 1996, decision in Money Station, Inc. v. Board
of Governors had nullified the Board's earlier approval and had ordered the
Board to conduct a hearing on the permissibility of the National City-EPS
transaction, EPS said.
    On March 1, 1995, the Federal Reserve Board approved a transaction in
which National City Corporation acquired a 20% ownership interest in EPS.
With the Board approval, National City became the fifth regional bank holding
company to invest in EPS, which was formed in December, 1992, by Banc One
Corporation, CoreStates Financial Corp, PNC Bank Corp. and KeyCorp.  National
City, which operates in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, added 1.2 million
cardholders and 900 ATMs to the EPS-owned MAC(R) ATM network.  Money Station,
Inc., an ATM network competitor, challenged the Board's ruling.
    "We're very pleased by the full court's decision," said David Van Lear,
chairman and chief executive officer of EPS.  "We believe that it indicates
substantial concern with the panel's earlier ruling.  We remain confident that
when all is said and done, the Board's approval will stand."
    Electronic Payment Services, Inc. (EPS), a privately held company
headquartered in Wilmington, Del., is the leading EFT processor in the United
States, with almost 2 billion transactions annually.  EPS is the holding
company for BUYPASS Corporation, a major third-party POS processor and debit
transaction acquirer with annual transaction volume of almost 800 million; and
MONEY ACCESS SERVICE INC., an EFT processor driving over 12,400 ATMs
nationwide.  MONEY ACCESS SERVICE is also operator of the MAC(R) EFT network,
the largest EFT network in the United States based on 1.2 billion switch
transactions annually, with 22,000 ATMs and 250,000 POS terminals in 40
states.  Nearly 2,000 financial institutions are members of the MAC network,
with 36 million customers carrying cards bearing the MAC logo.  MONEY ACCESS
SERVICE INC. controls the license rights for the registered trademark MAC.