First Data to provide Sygma Bank with payments infrastructure to support bank’s growth in Poland

WARSAW, Nov. 29, 2011 – First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, today announced that it has extended its long-standing agreement with Sygma Bank, one of Poland’s leading credit card issuers and a subsidiary of the LaSer Group, a leading provider of card and financial services solutions to retailers. First Data has supported Sygma Bank with the management of its payment card portfolio since 1999. The services provided by First Data in this new four year contract include the provision of a banking services platform that will provide the bank with an enriched level of information about its card portfolio and a transaction monitoring system that helps to reduce the risk of fraud.

In the next few years Sygma Bank has plans to grow the volumes of cashless payment transactions andmigrate its card portfolio to EMV standards. To achieve its goals, the bank has once again chosen an established services provider with unmatched knowledge and experience of the market. In addition to providing fraud monitoring services, First Data will enable information to be exchanged between its payment card processing systems and the bank’s IT systems and serve as a connection between the bank and the card schemes.

“Our cooperation with First Data in Poland provides strong foundations to support the bank’s ambitious plans and reflects our strategy to build alliances with established market leaders with deep experience and product knowledge,” said Jean Remy Martinez, Marketing Manager of Eastern European markets for the LaSer Group.

Grzegorz Długosz, member of the board at First Data in Poland, said: “We have supported Sygma Bank since 1999. Such a long, uninterrupted cooperation between two organisations is rare in Poland and signing this contract is a reflection of the great mutual trust between our organisations. We are glad to be not only a witness to, but also a major contributor to the successful new technologies driving Sygma Bank’s business vision.”

About Sygma Bank
Sygma Bank began operations in 1999 when Finplus SA, a company specialising in consumer credit and purchase financing, was launched. In 2004 Finplus SA expanded into Poland through its French subsidiary Sygma Banque Societe Anonyme. The entire range of Finplus products was transferred to the new entity, named Sygma Bank.

Sygma Bank specialises in supporting retailers, through the provision of non-financial and financial services, in particular private label cards, instalment loans and cash loans. Leveraging its extensive experience in European markets and parent company the LaSer Group, Sygma Bank creates specialist programmes for business partners and organises promotional campaigns and consumer-oriented marketing communication strategies. Today Sygma Bank is one of the leading credit card issuers in Poland. www.sygmabank.pl

About the LaSer Group
LaSer is a leading European company for intermediation and customer relations services. LaSer develops card solutions (loyalty cards, private label cards, prepaid cards, co-branded cards, etc.), data solutions (data analysis, customer knowledge, segmentation, consumption trends, etc.) and services (credit, insurance, CRM solutions, etc.) for brands and retailers. Via its commercial brands LaSer also provides financial services, services for everyday life, and so on, directly to private customers. LaSer is established in Europe and is equally owned by the Galeries Lafayette Group and BNP Paribas Personal Finance. LaSer employs over 9,000 people and generated a turnover of more than 1.6 billion Euros in 2010. www.lasergroupe.eu.

About First Data
Around the world, every second of every day, First Data makes payment transactions secure, fast and easy for merchants, financial institutions and their customers. First Data leverages its vast product portfolio and expertise to drive customer revenue and profitability. Whether the choice of payment is by debit or credit card, gift card, check or mobile phone, online or at the checkout counter, First Data takes every opportunity to go beyond the transaction.

Contacts
Olga Malecka, First Data
+48 22 515 31 00
olga.malecka@firstdata.pl