Press Release

Euronet launches Money Transfer and Bill Payment services with the acquisition of TelecommUSA

Euronet launches Money Transfer and Bill Payment services with the acquisition of TelecommUSA

LEAWOOD, KANSAS—July 26, 2005—Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (Nasdaq: EEFT), a leading electronic payments provider, today announced the recently completed acquisition of TelecommUSA (TUSA), a consumer financial services company based in North Carolina. TUSA offers consumer money transfer services, primarily between consumers in the U.S. and Latin America, and bill payment services within the U.S. The company will operate under the name Euronet Payments and Remittance, Inc., and will be part of Euronet's Prepaid Processing Segment.

TUSA was founded in 2000 to provide secure money transfer and bill payment services to the growing Hispanic market in the U.S. The company is a licensed money transmitter in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, and has over 350 sending locations offering money transfer and bill payment services. Within four years, TUSA has successfully developed its money transfer services from the U.S. to 15 countries in Latin America, including Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, among others. The company has agreements in place for approximately 13,000 locations throughout Latin America with leading financial organizations for the distribution of funds. TUSA also offers bill payment services to consumers within the U.S., who can pay their bills to more than 5,000 billers nationwide.

TUSA's patented card-based money transfer and bill payment system allows transactions to be initiated primarily through point-of-sale (POS) terminals and Integrated Cash Register Systems (ICR), and can also be initiated through PC, fax or telephone. The system allows retailers to accept cash at a designated POS location and transfer it to any of the 13,000 money transfer locations and/or more than 5,000 billers connected to the system. The system is fast and easy to use for both retailers and consumers, and is designed to verify each transaction in compliance with all state and federal regulations. Transfers can be picked up in cash, deposited to a bank account, or loaded to a stored value card.

"Our entry into the money transfer and bill payment business presents an exciting opportunity for Euronet. It directly fits with our business of transaction processing and has recurring transaction based revenue just like our EFT and Prepaid businesses," said Michael J. Brown, Euronet chairman and CEO. "Moreover, TUSA's simple, convenient card-based product can easily be rolled out to many of our 15,000 retail locations in the U.S., enabling retailers to offer the money transfer and bill payment products for the first time alongside our prepaid products."

TUSA's money transfer service is currently focused on the U.S. and Latin America market, and Euronet plans to expand it to other markets. Euronet believes its expertise in processing secure financial transactions and presence in over 100,000 locations worldwide provides good opportunities for success in the global money transfer industry. Within the U.S., Euronet will initially increase its sending locations in existing licensed states by leveraging its prepaid subsidiary PaySpot's access to over 15,000 retail locations, in addition to obtaining licenses to operate in other key states, over the next 12-18 months.

"We're excited about being a part of Euronet because the company's U.S. retail locations and top-up customers match up very nicely with that of our money transfer customers, who are primarily the unbanked and key ethnic population segments," said Wayne Cooper, founder, TelecommUSA. "Moreover, when we couple the security and convenience of our card-based money transfer and bill payment products with the processing and distribution capabilities of Euronet, we can see Euronet becoming a significant player in the global money transfer business by taking our product to convenient locations, never previously targeted in the industry."

The money transfer business is a significant and profitable industry. According to industry sources, global workers' remittances are estimated to be growing 8-9% annually, up from $165 billion in 2000 to $231 billion in 2004. This growth is primarily driven by two factors – increased growth in international migration and a large unbanked population. The U.S. is the largest source for remittances, with remittances from the U.S. totaling $65 billion in 2004. The Center for Immigration Studies reports that in the U.S. alone, a majority of its 30 million immigrant population comes from Latin America and Asia - two of the largest receivers of remittances in the world. Inter-American Bank reports that over 60% of foreign-born U.S. Latino adults send money back home regularly, with Latin America receiving $45 billion in remittances from the U.S. in 2004. Additionally the U.S. General Accounting Office estimates that 28% of the U.S. adult population is unbanked and much of this segment looks to money transfer organizations for their basic banking functions, including sending funds and paying bills.

About Euronet Worldwide

Euronet Worldwide is an industry leader in processing secure electronic financial transactions. The company offers outsourcing and consulting services, integrated EFT software, network gateways, and electronic prepaid top-up services to financial institutions, mobile operators and retailers. Euronet operates and services the largest pan-European group of ATMs and operates the largest India shared ATM network. Euronet is also one of the largest providers of prepaid processing, or top-up services, for prepaid mobile airtime. The company has processing centers located in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and processes electronic top-up transactions at more than 208,000 point-of-sale terminals across more than 101,000 retailers in Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the U.S. With corporate headquarters in Leawood, Kansas, USA, and 23 worldwide offices, Euronet serves clients in approximately 70 countries. Visit the company's web site at www.euronetworldwide.com.

Any statements contained in this news release that concern the company's or management's intentions, expectations, or predictions of future performance, are forward-looking statements. Euronet's actual results may vary materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including: technological developments affecting the market for the company's products and services; foreign exchange fluctuations; and changes in laws and regulations affecting the company's business. These risks and other risks are described in the company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to Euronet's Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2004 and its Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2005. Copies of these filings may be obtained by contacting the company or the SEC.

 

Contacts:




Media Contact:

Shruthi  Fielder (formerly Dyapaiah)
Euronet Worldwide, Inc.
+1-913-327-4225
sdyapaiah@eeft.com
 
IR Department
Euronet Worldwide
913-327-4200
investor@euronetworldwide.com