FIRST DATA INTERNATIONAL, NORDEA AND SAMPO LAUNCH MAJOR ATM PROJECT IN THE BALTICS

Riga, Latvia, 17 August 2006 : First Data International, a leader in electronic commerce and payment services around the world, is supporting Nordea, a leading financial services group in the Nordic and Baltic regions, and Sampo, Finland’s premier bank, on their joint project to launch a major new ATM network across the Baltic region. This is the first time that two leading financial institutions have co-operated to develop such an important piece of infrastructure in the region.

Once completed, the network will include 200 ATMs in Lithuania, 100 in Estonia and 100 in Latvia. First Data will develop and maintain the ATM network to ensure a high standard of service to consumers across the region and will take responsibility for all aspects of service delivery, including network deployment, transaction processing and cash management.

The ATMs will provide additional convenience for the banks’ customers, enabling them to access banking services remotely, account balance enquiries and cash withdrawals.

Gerd Muller, who leads First Data’s operations in the Nordics, Baltics and CIS region, comments: “This is a very significant development for the Baltic region, and the first time banks here have outsourced the delivery of such a significant project to a third party provider. We are delighted to be partnering with Nordea and Sampo to provide a robust ATM infrastructure that will offer important benefits to the banks and their customers.

With operations across the Baltics, First Data is actively seeking to work with banks to deliver major projects in the region, offering economies of scale, high quality technical infrastructure and service excellence. It is clear that leading banks increasingly recognise the value of outsourcing non-core functions to trusted partners, to achieve the modernisation and development of banking servic es across the region.”

With more than 308,000 ATMs globally, First Data provides a full suite of ATM solutions to financial institutions and merchants around the world.