NOVA Acquires Certegy's Merchant Acquiring Business

ATLANTA – NOVA Information Systems (NOVA) has entered into an agreement to acquire Certegy’s existing merchant acquiring portfolio. NOVA will provide processing services, customer service and support operations to Certegy’s existing 14,000 acquired merchant locations. The credit and debit card processing volume from the Certegy portfolio is expected to generate approximately $3.0 billion in additional volume annually. Merchant conversions are expected to be completed by the end of 2005.

As part of the joint marketing agreement, NOVA will sell Certegy’s regional check products through its merchant sales force, and Certegy will provide NOVA with new merchant referrals through its sales representatives in the United States.

“We are very pleased to partner with an industry leader like NOVA to offer a full suite of payment processing solutions to retailers throughout the United States,” stated Lee Kennedy, chairman and chief executive officer of Certegy. “We value the relationships we have developed with our merchant processing customers, and selected NOVA based on their outstanding track record of providing world class customer support.”

“Once again we have demonstrated our strong ability to partner with financial services providers to extend merchant processing services to their customers,” said Pamela Joseph, president and chief executive officer, NOVA Information Systems. “NOVA’s advanced processing network, robust solutions and strong operational infrastructure, combined with Certegy’s industry-leading risk management products, results in a winning value proposition for our respective companies and our merchant customers.”