LAS VEGAS, May 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - May 29 - Esprit Financial
Group, Inc. (PINK SHEETS:EFGO.PK) announced today that the executive
committee of one of Africa's largest banking institutions, Union Bank of
Nigeria, has given provisional approval for dialogue to move towards
contractual agreements for the implementation of a new issuing payment
platform.
Esprit's Advanced Electronic Funds Management (AEFM) division will be
providing merchant account services, stored value credit and debit cards
and international funds clearing services as part of its EM2 service
capabilities in conjunction with its credit card financial services
supplier, Credit Card Solutions UK Ltd (CCS).
Esprit's AEFM division head Jack Chang will program manage the
implementation for Union Bank. It is anticipated that this project could go
live as early as the third quarter of this year.
The agreement calls for Esprit to deliver an initial 100,000 stored
value cards by August, 2007.
Jack Chang, head of the AEFM division, noted, "We have always
maintained that there is a tremendous pent-up demand for advanced
electronic funds management services in less developed countries
internationally. This is especially true in the African and South American
regions. Africa is experiencing a major growth surge, and financial
institutions are rapidly adopting new technologies to broaden their service
capabilities to attract new customers and cross-sell new services to
existing ones. There is strong demand for electronic payment services in
the region and continual strengthening of the Internet and ATM backbone
across both urban and rural areas."
The revenue sharing arrangement between the various suppliers calls for
Esprit to receive 1/3rd of net revenues generated through this contract.
Esprit CEO Garr Winters commented, "We're obviously pleased as punch to
make this announcement. Things are ramping up fairly quickly in our AEFM
division. This contract confirms our business model decision to go after
international markets as a top priority."
Winters added, "Jack is an absolute first rate resource, and we are
fortunate indeed to have him onboard. Now that he has the solid financial
backing and a management team that can provide marketing and sales support,
we're putting the 'pedal to the metal' to close new deals on an accelerated
basis. There are a number of exploratory contract discussions that have
been ripening slowly and quietly in the background. We're now ready to
start harvesting this 'low-hanging fruit'."
In other Company news, Winters explained, "Just so that there is no
confusion, this is a separate and unrelated contract from the Chinese
Jiangxi deal announced on May 17th, 2007. The due diligence process on that
deal is taking somewhat longer than originally anticipated. This is
actually a good sign, as there is a lot more value in the Jiangxi than we
expected. We should be in a position to make our final determination in the
next 30 to 45 days on this important transaction.
About Union Bank of Nigeria:
Union Bank of Nigeria Plc http://www.unionbankng.com was established in
1917 as a Colonial Bank with its first branch in Lagos. Today, Union Bank
remains one of the best capitalized banks in Nigeria. It has the largest
shareholders' funds of N100.500 billion and operates through a network of
379 branches that are well spread across the country, all of which are
on-line, real time.
Today, the Bank is a leading regional bank in sub-Sahara Africa in
terms of its diverse investments across the globe. A glance at the Bank's
financial summary reveals its solidity. As at 31st March, 2006, the Bank's
gross earnings was N 66.576 billion; profit before tax was N 13.536
billion; total assets was N 667.766 billion; and shareholders' fund was N
100.500 billion.
About Credit Card Solutions UK Ltd
Credit Card Solutions UK Ltd (CCS) (http://www.creditcardsolutionsuk.com) is a
consultancy firm which since early 2005 has been consulting in the area of
prepaid debit implementation strategies specifically across the Europe,
Middle East and African (EMEA) region, expanding into Asia Pacific and
Latin America during 2006. By developing relationships with issuing banks
and transaction processors CCS guides its corporate clientele to the most
appropriate product offering based on a detailed requirements assessment
process and guidance by an internal financial advisory counsel.
About Esprit Financial Group Inc.
Esprit Financial Group Inc http://www.espritfinancialgroup.com is a public
company engaged in a diversified number of online financial services. These
include:
- PayDay Loans: A pioneer in the payday loan industry, the Company
licenses comprehensive software solutions to industry participants,
under the Cash Now banner at http://www.cashnow.org.
- Forex: The Company's Forex Trading division offers an innovative low-
cost Forex trading service at http://www.cashnow.com targeted to active day-
traders.
- Advanced Electronic Funds Management: This division offers a number
of class leading financial services that facilitate a variety of
Internet based international electronic funds transfer and cash
management solutions.
- Structured Debt Resolution: This division will offer streamlined,
cost effective alternative services to facilitate the negotiation of
debt settlement online.
Safe Harbor Statement
Information in this press release may contain 'forward-looking
statements.' Statements describing objectives or goals or the Company's
future plans are also forward-looking statements and are subject to risks
and uncertainties, including the financial performance of the Company and
market valuations of its stock, which could cause actual results to differ
materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements in this news
release are made pursuant to the 'Safe Harbor' provisions of the United
States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are
cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks relating to the ability
to close transactions being contemplated, risks related to sales, continued
acceptance of Esprit Financial Group's products, increased levels of
competition, technological changes, dependence on intellectual property
rights and other risks detailed from time to time in Esprit Financial
Group's periodic reports filed with the regulatory authorities.
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