First Data Announces Letter-of-Intent With Bank of America to Expand Services

DENVER, CO – Electronic commerce and payments leader First Data Corp. today announced a signed Letter-of-Intent (LOI) with Bank of America to provide new and expanded services.

Bank of America, the nation’s largest debit card issuer, will extend its agreement with the STAR® Debit and ATM Network, one of the suite of services within the First Data Debit Services portfolio.

“We’re extremely pleased to expand and strengthen our relationship with Bank of America, a leading financial services provider,” said Charlie Fote, chairman and chief executive officer, First Data. “This agreement is representative of First Data’s commitment to provide the market with innovative choices for payments and transaction processing benefiting financial institutions, merchants and consumers.”

Under the agreement, the STAR Network will begin to process PIN-secured debit transactions for a portion of Bank of America’s portfolio. In addition, a majority of Bank of America ATMs will continue to participate in the STAR Network.

“We look forward to building on our already successful relationship with First Data,” said Robert Whyte, Card Operations executive, Bank of America. “We are committed to providing our customers with convenient and easy access to their funds. Partnering with First Data further supports this commitment.”

The LOI includes additional services to be provided by other First Data businesses, including:

• First Data’s REMITCO unit will provide remittance processing services for Bank of America credit card payments.

• First Data will provide plastics personalization for Bank of America credit and debit card portfolios, including former Fleet credit and debit cards.

• Bank of America will extend its contract with First Data Voice Services for Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and live agent card activation services for its credit and debit card portfolios.

• TASQ Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of First Data will supply point-of-sale (POS) equipment and supplies for Bank of America’s merchant acquiring business.

• Bank of America will extend its current contract with Primary Payment Systems (PPS), a part of the First Data family. PPS is a leading provider of risk management solutions that provide services to combat check, identity and new account fraud.

About First Data
First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC), with global headquarters in Denver, helps power the global economy. As a leader in electronic commerce and payment services, First Data serves approximately 3.5 million merchant locations, 1,400 card issuers and millions of consumers, making it easy, fast and secure for people and businesses around the world to buy goods and services using virtually any form of payment. With more than 30,000 employees worldwide, the company provides credit, debit, private-label, smart and stored-value card issuing and merchant transaction processing services; Internet commerce solutions; money transfer services; money orders; and check guarantee and verification services. The STAR® Network offers PIN-secured debit acceptance at 261,000 ATMs and one million point-of-sale locations nationwide. First Data also offers a variety of payment services to businesses around the world including those in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Panama, Brazil, China, the Netherlands, the Middle East and Germany. Its Western Union and Orlandi Valuta money transfer networks include approximately 200,000 Agent locations in more than 195 countries and territories. Visit www.firstdata.com for more information.