DALLAS, March 10 /PRNewswire/ --

- World's Leading Payments Firm Expands Presence Across the Continent,
Leveraging Expertise in Fast-Growing Merchant Categories

In a continuation of its strategic European expansion, Chase Paymentech,
the world's premier payment services provider and a leader in electronic
commerce, today formally opened the doors of its European headquarters in
Dublin, Ireland.

Inaugural operations at the new facility were celebrated today by an
opening ceremony and tour by Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, Chase
Paymentech president and chief executive officer Michael Duffy and managing
director of Chase Paymentech's European operations Shane Fitzpatrick.

Led by Fitzpatrick, Chase Paymentech's expanded Dublin presence enhances
the company's broader strategy to best serve its merchant partners across the
globe through a series of cross-border payment initiatives.

Within three years, the new office will provide operational support for a
100-person team across Europe responsible for expanding Chase Paymentech
operations, marketing initiatives and customer support activities outside the
United States.

"We consider this enhanced physical presence a major milestone in our
global strategy to expand and support the growth of our US-based merchant
customers into Europe," said Fitzpatrick. "We have a significant European
client base, including household names such as Google, Amazon, AOL and Yahoo.
Initially, we'll be targeting new businesses in Western Europe, then
eventually expand into Asia-Pacific markets."

"Merchants and consumers alike continually look for the optimal choices
that will provide the maximum value realized in each dollar, pound or euro
spent," said Duffy. "With a growing focus on both traditional and alternative
payments among both groups, there's a greater need to have the best partner
to maximize these channels. We expect that Shane's extensive experience will
help drive the growth of our merchants across geographical borders."

According to Forrester Research, the number of Europeans shopping online
will grow from 100 million to 174 million. In the United Kingdom, the average
yearly per consumer Web retail spend will grow from around 1,000 euro to
1,500 euro, as UK consumers outspend even their US counterparts online.
Overall, this will cause European ecommerce to surge to 263 billion euro in
2011, with travel, clothes, groceries, and consumer electronics all above the
10 billion euro per year mark.

European Central Bank data indicates that in 2006 retail payment systems
processed 35 billion transactions, with a total value of 26.4 trillion euro.
The use of cashless payment instruments across all European countries has
steadily increased over the past few years.

Streamlining Payments Across Europe

The Single European Payments Area (SEPA) initiative will result in
significant payment infrastructure change in Europe, removing all
differentiation between national and cross-border payments within the euro
area. Chase Paymentech Europe is working diligently with the European Central
Bank and regulatory bodies to ensure that the perspective of our merchant
base is properly considered. SEPA will allow consumers to make non-cash euro
payments to any beneficiary located anywhere in the euro area using a single
bank account and a single set of payment instruments. All retail payments in
euro will thereby become "domestic."

Chase Paymentech has supported the dynamic growth of US-based online
merchants for decades, since the birth of ecommerce. For more than 10 years,
the company has partnered with major ecommerce retailers to enable the
payment strategies that supported those same merchants as they expanded their
business to the European continent. Today's event marks a significant key
milestone in Chase Paymentech's global expansion strategy.

About Chase Paymentech

Chase Paymentech Solutions, LLC is a leading global payments firm and the
world's largest merchant acquirer, capable of transacting payments in 140
currencies. In 2007, the privately held company processed approximately 19.7
billion payment transactions, with more than US$719 billion in annual
bankcard and debit volume. Chase Paymentech's customer base reflects the most
respected global brands, including 70 percent of leading ecommerce business
and almost 600,000 merchants in over 1 million locations worldwide. Learn
more at www.chasepaymentech.com.

Web site: http://www.chasepaymentech.com