Romania’s Largest Mobile Operator and Largest Commercial Bank choose Euronet’s ATM Recharge Solution
Romania’s Largest Mobile Operator and Largest Commercial Bank choose Euronet’s ATM Recharge Solution
Customers of Connex's prepay service are the first users in Romania to have an electronic method for adding airtime minutes to their mobile phone accounts. Euronet ATM Recharge enables Connex to distribute airtime 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at any one of 483 BCR-branded ATMs across Romania.
"Euronet's ATM Recharge solution will help us meet our strategic goals of enhancing customer convenience with prepaid airtime while we reduce internal costs," said Gabriela Matei, Director of Marketing for Connex. "Euronet's experience with secure payment solutions provides a great benefit, enabling Connex to bring diversified services to its customers."
This ATM Recharge agreement expands an existing mobile banking partnership among Romanian industry leaders. Connex is the country's largest mobile operator, with more than 2.1 million subscribers, and BCR is its largest bank, with 275 branches across the country and 3 million customers. BCR already enables Connex subscribers to access their bank accounts and receive financial messages via Euronet Mobile Banking.
"Euronet's ATM Recharge will expand our ATM transaction set, providing consumers with a convenient payment option, while generating additional revenue to BCR," said Mr. Ion Matei, BCR Card Director. "This service will allow BCR to provide supplemental value-added benefits to Connex subscribers. Additionally, we recently implemented Euronet's state-of-the-art ATM Bill Payment solution. We value Euronet as a strategic partner whose quick-to-market solutions will enable us to generate more high-margin transactions. Through its innovative products and services, Euronet enables BCR to differentiate itself in the Romanian market. These solutions will not only increase our transaction volumes, but will help BCR acquire additional market share and continue to consolidate its position as a market leader."
Euronet ATM Recharge is one of multiple recharge options available from Euronet. Both mobile operators and financial institutions in Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and the Carribean have deployed Euronet Recharge solutions on touchpoints such as POS devices, ATMs and mobile phones.
"We are pleased to deepen our relationship with BCR and MobiFon, industry leaders who appreciate the benefits of providing convenient access to secure electronic financial transactions," said Miro Bergman, Euronet Worldwide Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the EMEA region. "This prepaid airtime recharge service is a perfect complement to the Mobile Banking solution that Euronet implemented in Romania last September for BCR and Connex customers. We find tremendous potential in bringing together financial institutions and mobile operators to develop creative payment solutions around the world."
About Euronet Worldwide
Euronet Worldwide is an industry leader in providing secure electronic financial transaction solutions. The company offers financial payment middleware, financial network gateways, outsourcing and consulting services to financial institutions and mobile operators. These solutions enable their customers to access personal financial information and perform secure financial transactions -- any time, any place. The company has processing centers located in the United States, Europe and Asia, and owns and operates the largest independent ATM network in Europe. With corporate headquarters in Leawood, Kansas, USA, and European headquarters in Budapest, Hungary, Euronet serves more than 200 clients in 60 countries.
About Connex
Connex is a registered trademark of MobiFon S.A., and is the largest mobile communications company in Romania. With over 2.18 million customers, it offers the most comprehensive selection of communications services available. Its GSM and GPRS service reaches over 95% of the Romanian population and, through its roaming agreements with 211 other service operators, also offers GSM roaming in 91 countries across the world. Connex is also the largest ISP and data service provider in Romania operating dedicated data services, dial-up Internet services and an Internet portal services. Its voice, data and mobile entertainment services are amongst the most advanced in the world. The main shareholders of MobiFon S.A. are Telesystem International Wireless Inc. (TIW) of Canada and Vodafone.
About Romanian Commercial Bank
Banca Comerciala Romana is the largest commercial and retail bank in Romania. BCR has more than 3 million accounts, well over 960,000 debit cards issued, a network of 483 ATMs, 800 POSs and 275 branches located throughout Romania. The Romanian Commercial Banks holds over 30% of the national credits and deposits market. As of December 31 2001, the BCR Group reported $3.4 billion in total assets and a net annual profit of $146 million, up from 102 million in 2000. Last year, the Bank's return-on-equity was 24.4% and return-on-assets 4.28%. The Nilson Report classifies BCR as no. 948 of the top 1,000 card issuers worldwide.
Contacts:
Media Contact:
Misti Garffie
Euronet Worldwide
913-327-4257
mgarffie@payspot.com