First Data and Republic of Ireland bank form merchant acquiring joint venture

Allied Irish Banks p.l.c. (AIB), with a market leadership position in financial services and card acquiring in the Republic of Ireland, and First Data Corp. (First Data), a global leader in electronic commerce and payment services, today announced that they have signed an agreement to form a merchant acquiring joint venture. The joint venture will trade as AIB Merchant Services in the Republic of Ireland.

The new joint venture, based in Dublin, will provide card acquiring services in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe and will deliver additional products and services and enhanced functionality to AIB's 30,000 merchant customers. It will also provide a compelling service offering for new merchants, enabling further expansion of the bank's credit and debit card acquiring business.

AIB's card acquiring business in the Republic of Ireland will form the principal basis of the new joint venture. It is expected that for the year ended 31 December 2007, AIB's card acquiring businesses in Ireland and in the UK will process approximately 140 million and 13 million transactions respectively.

Completion of the transaction is conditional upon competition approval, which is expected before the end of this year. As part of the agreement, First Data will have an option to enable the joint venture to acquire AIB's card acquiring business in the UK. The total value of the gross assets of the Irish and UK businesses is approximately €5.5 million. The transaction is expected to have a neutral effect on AIB's earnings per share in 2008.

Both AIB and First Data will be involved in the day-to-day operations of the new joint venture and will be represented on its board of directors.

Welcoming the development, Donal Forde, Managing Director of AIB Bank, Republic of Ireland Division, said: "By partnering with a leading global player like First Data, we are positioning ourselves for substantial future growth in this business, in Ireland, the UK and further afield."

Nadeem Shaikh, President, First Data, Western Europe, the Middle East and Africa, added: "First Data seeks to partner with leading banks across Europe and we are delighted AIB selected us for this important new venture. The bank has recognised First Data's unique ability to help accelerate the growth of its merchant acquiring business in Europe and we will work closely with the skilled and experienced staff at AIB to build a business of which we can all be proud."