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Visa Europe gains new V PAY acquirer in Switzerland and consolidates card acceptance

Aduno launches V PAY service with first live transaction at Jelmoli

ZURICH, 05 October 2006

Aduno, one of the leading companies in the Swiss acquiring market, is plugging its business partners into the V PAY service immediately. V PAY is Visa Europe’s new, secure debit card and is based on the EMV technology standard. V PAY cards are equipped with a chip and a personal PIN number, giving the cardholder greater control and security together with protection against card fraud – crucial for cashless transactions.

V PAY is a new generation card: it requires neither signature by the cardholder nor scanning of a magnetic stripe – and it can be used anywhere in Europe. This technology promotes the SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) and facilitates barrier-free cashless payments across the frontiers of Switzerland.

Giuseppe Manieri, Key Account Manager of Aduno SA, made a V PAY transaction along with Jörg Metzelaers, Country Manager for Switzerland, Visa Europe, thereby completing the first V PAY purchase handled by Aduno (see illustration). Mr Manieri used V PAY to buy some fragrance at "Jelmoli – The House of Brands", Switzerland's largest department store.

"V PAY is a paradigm shift in the cashless payments market. For merchants, it is an additional service to customers, which is cost-efficient and simple to implement; for the user, what V PAY means above all is maximum security when making payments, either within or outside Swiss frontiers. We are happy that in Aduno we have gained a new acquirer who will boost acceptance of this card in Switzerland, because widespread card acceptance is the key to success for V PAY," says Jörg Metzelaers.

Christian Bucheli, Products and Services Manager at Aduno SA: "With regards to the development of V PAY's acceptance infrastructure, Switzerland is one of Europe's leading countries. Every Aduno business partner who installs an EMV/ep2 terminal is immediately ready to accept V PAY cards from all over Europe. Processing of the new cards is just as simple and reliable as with current Visa or Visa Electron cards."

Visa Europe sees the creation of a smoothly functioning European card payments market as its main priority. With the development of V PAY as a Europe-wide debit card, Visa Europe demonstrates its commitment to making SEPA a reality.

**Ends**

Additional editorial information: acquirers committed to V PAY or in the process of rolling out:

Austria: Visa-Austria, Hobex
Belgium: BCC, euroConex
Czech Republic: Ceska sporitelna, Komercni Banka , CSOB
Denmark: PBS
Estonia: Hansapank
Finland: Luottokunta
France: Carte Bleue Acquirers
Germany: B+S, Concardis, euroConex
Greece: Alpha Bank, Piraeus Bank, Emporiki
Hungary: OTP, K&H
Ireland: AIB, Bank of Ireland
Italy: Setefi, Deutsche Bank, CartaSi, Banca Antonveneta, BNL
Latvia: Hansabanka
Lithuania: SEB Vilnius
Luxembourg: CETREL
Poland: Polcard, Cardpoint
Portugal: UNICRE
Slovakia: Tatrabanka
Slovenia: Banka Koper
Spain: Servired, Sistema 4B, EURO6000
Switzerland: Telekurs, Aduno
Turkey: Ak Bank, Is Bank, Garanti Bank, Yapi Kredi
UK: Streamline

About Visa Europe

In Europe, there are over 308 million Visa debit, credit and commercial cards. In the 12 months ending March 2006, those cards were used to make purchases and cash withdrawals to the value of over €1.17 trillion.

Visa Europe is a Membership Association - an organisation owned and operated by its 4,500 European member banks. It is an organisation owned and run by Europeans, allowing it to respond quickly to the specific market needs of European banks and their customers – cardholders and retailers. Visa Europe is a part owner of Visa International, the organisation that ensures global interoperability of products as well as management of the Visa brand.

Globally Visa is one of the world’s leading payment brands and has unsurpassed acceptance at approximately 24 million acceptance locations including over one million ATMs.

For more information, visit www.visaeurope.com.

Contacts:

Françoise Brinster or Sabine Wilhelm
Cohn & Wolfe Public Relations – on behalf of Visa Schwitzerland
Tel: +41 (0)22 908 40 73
Email: francoise_brinster@ch.cohnwolfe.com
sabine_wilhelm@ch.cohnwolfe.com

Visa Europe press office
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7795 5331
Email: europeanmedia@visa.com

Contact Aduno SA
Christian Bucheli Tel. 058 234 5303