tags: Alaric

Alaric International Unveils New Asia Pacific Headquarters and Centre of Excellence Global Growth and Expansion Continues With Opening of New Software Development and Support Centre in Key Asia Pacific Region London, England – March 4th, 2008 - Alaric International, a leading supplier of advanced technology solutions for the card payments industry, today announced the opening of a new dedicated Asia Pacific headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Headed up by Peter Parke, Director of Regional Operations Asia Pacific and Paul Griffin, Regional Manager Asia Pacific, the office incorporates a Centre of Excellence ― a software development centre, complete with build and test facilities, and a locally recruited team that will provide both technical and customer service support. The new Centre of Excellence will enable smoother implementation and support for Alaric’s customers throughout the region. With its central location, English speaking skills and rapidly growing IT sector, Kuala Lumpur represents the ideal location for supporting Alaric’s payment solutions in the region. In addition, Alaric is privileged to have been awarded MSC Status by the Malaysian Government’s Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) in recognition of its contribution to the country’s fast growing information and communications technology sector. “The opening of our new Asia Pacific headquarters reflects our strong focus in the region and reinforces our commitment to deliver the best possible solutions to our customers worldwide,” comments regional manager Paul Griffin. “We see huge opportunities for Alaric in Asia Pacific and our new regional base will provide an invaluable launch pad to introduce our advanced technology solutions into this important market.” The newly established HQ represents yet another stage of growth for Alaric in the region, and follows fast on its recent 2007 office opening in Melbourne, Australia ― now dedicated to the Australian and New Zealand markets ― which is headed-up by newly appointed Ron Hill. This now sees Alaric present across the globe, with key operations in Europe, USA, Australia and Asia Pacific. Alaric’s UK offices will continue to act as the hub for strategic design of existing and new products, and overall project management. - ends - About Alaric Headquartered in London, Alaric is a leading supplier of advanced technology solutions for the card payments industry. Alaric offers java based solutions for card payments authorization and switching, fraud detection and prevention, risk management and payment systems integration. Alaric’s customers include First Data International, Swisscard, Cornèr Banca and Yorkshire Building Society. Alaric's product set was launched in 2001. Being written in Java, the solutions are fully portable while scalable to meet the needs of the smallest through the largest institution. Alaric's success is a result of its dedicated focus on the payments industry together with a clear recognition of the need to collaborate with partners. For further information, please visit us at www.alaric.com Press contact: Nicky Davis EvokedSet PR for Alaric International Tel: +44 7747 017654 Email: alaric@evokedset.com Distributed on behalf of Alaric International by NeonDrum Liz Hartney Tel: +44 7510518732 liz.hartney[at]neondrum[dot]com www.neondrum.com

Alaric International’s Martin Hewgill To Head Up Debate on Fraud Prevention at Prepaid Card Expo 2008 Alaric Head of Marketing to Lead Key Session at World’s Largest Prepaid Card Conference and Exhibition London, England – February 26th, 2008 - Alaric International, a leading supplier of advanced technology solutions for the card payments industry, today announced that Alaric’s Head of Marketing Martin Hewgill will lead a key panel session on fraud prevention at Prepaid Card Expo 2008 – the world’s largest gathering of prepaid, stored value and emerging card payments professionals (Las Vegas, 3-5 March 2008). Hewgill will be heading a panel of leading industry experts in a discussion on ‘Practical approaches to mitigating risk and fraud issues through advanced monitoring, detection and data collection practices’. The session, which will take place on Tuesday 4th March from 2:00 – 2:50pm, will explore fraud risk challenges in the retail prepaid value chain – within both closed and open loop systems – and examine strategies for mitigating fraud risk and implementing best practices and technologies for effective detection and prevention. The session is being given as part of a specialist Risk Management, Legal and Regulatory conference track incorporated into this year’s conference programme, with sessions dedicated to fraud detection, interchange trends and card security. Alaric International will also be exhibiting at the show (Stand no. 431) showcasing its full range of high-performance, future-proof card payment products, including the award-winning Fractals payment card risk management and fraud detection system. “The industry has recognised that complacency about fraud and anti-money laundering is not an option for prepaid portfolios,” comments Hewgill. “This session will provide a compelling insight into how organisations can determine points of weakness or vulnerability, and what proactive steps they can take to drive down or avoid fraud in this fast expanding business.” Members of the media interested in scheduling a briefing with Alaric at the event can do so by contacting Nicky Davis at nicky[at]evokedset.com. For more information about Prepaid Card Expo, please visit: http://www.iirusa.com/prepaidcardexpo/eventhome/21858.xml - ends - About Alaric Headquartered in London, Alaric is a leading supplier of advanced technology solutions for the card payments industry. Alaric offers java based solutions for card payments authorization and switching, fraud detection and prevention, risk management and payment systems integration. Alaric’s customers include First Data International, Swisscard, Cornèr Banca and Yorkshire Building Society. Alaric's product set was launched in 2001. Being written in Java, the solutions are fully portable while scalable to meet the needs of the smallest through the largest institution. Alaric's success is a result of its dedicated focus on the payments industry together with a clear recognition of the need to collaborate with partners. For further information, please visit us at www.alaric.com Press contact: Nicky Davis EvokedSet PR for Alaric International Tel: +44 7747 017654 Email: alaric@evokedset.com Distributed on behalf of Alaric by NeonDrum Liz Hartney Tel: +44 7501518732 liz.hartney[at]neondrum[dot]com www.neondrum.com

Alaric’s Authentic system links Barbados Credit Union to Caribbean Integrated Financial Services network in impressive time Alaric completes key authorisation and switching project for largest island credit union from specification to go-live in just two months London, England – February 19th, 2008 - Alaric International, a leading supplier of advanced technology solutions for the card payments industry, today announced that Barbados Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union Ltd (BPWCCUL), the largest island credit union, has gone live with the first phase of a major programme to provide enhanced customer debit card facilities. Alaric’s Authentic EFT authorisation and switching system was implemented by BPWCCUL to provide an online interface into the National Debit Switch, known as the CarIFS (Caribbean Integrated Financial Services) network, run by the islands’ major banks. CarIFS was initially instituted to facilitate debit switching capability among the commercial banks on the island, but has recently invited the Credit Unions to join the network. The entire project phase, from functional specification in September to certification and completion of the live production system in November, took just two months. The physical implementation and testing was achieved in under four weeks. Following a rigorous selection process, Authentic was chosen to link BPWCCUL’s ATMs into the CarIFS network and support the authorisation and switching of both issuing and acquiring transactions, interfacing to BPWCCUL’s Symitar host system. This successful initial implementation marks the first part of a three-phase project which will also see further credit unions on the island being given access to the CarIFS ATM network. “The speed and ease of this implementation is a tribute to the flexibility and performance of Alaric’s Authentic system, as well as the quality of the entire Alaric project team,” comments Irwin Gibson, Head of IT for BPWCCUL. “Alaric has proved itself to be a great business and technical fit for the needs of our organisation, and we are looking forward to the next phases of the project, which will deliver considerable benefits for our members and customers.” Prism Services Inc, project Managers for CarIFS, was full of praise for the ease and professionalism with which the project was completed, and CarIFS commended BPWCCUL on their choice of Alaric International. PRISM Services Inc, which has gone through this exercise numerous times before with different service providers, remarked that “Alaric’s personnel were proactive, thorough, and demonstrated due diligence in ensuring that each step was correct on the first try, and that the project was completed on time. Alaric’s personnel queried all uncertainties in the project plan and scripts beforehand, so that once a certification window was provided, all systems were go.” Poul Laursen, Head of Professional Services for Alaric International said, “As a solution provider, we set ourselves extremely high standards and we are delighted to have delivered phase one of this major implementation in just two months. Our aim is to continue to exceed expectations in the levels of our service and support as we move to the next stages of this milestone project for BPWCCUL.” The BPWCCUL is the largest of the 37 credit unions on the island, with assets of over $240m. A not-for-profit financial co-operative which provides savings & investment products, loans and mortgages to its members, the credit union also offers internet banking facilities in addition to its enhanced debit services. Alaric’s Authentic is a modern EFT authorization and routing system for issuers and acquirers of credit, debit, charge and prepaid cards. Authentic addresses the needs of banks, retailers and processors. Written entirely in Java and using open, relational databases, Authentic is truly platform independent. Authentic is designed with future business needs in mind, with an emphasis on user configuration rather than programming. - ends - About Alaric Headquartered in London, Alaric is a leading supplier of advanced technology solutions for the card payments industry. Alaric offers java based solutions for card payments authorization and switching, fraud detection and prevention, risk management and payment systems integration. Alaric’s customers include First Data International, Swisscard, Cornèr Banca and Yorkshire Building Society. Alaric's product set was launched in 2001. Being written in Java, the solutions are fully portable while scalable to meet the needs of the smallest through the largest institution. Alaric's success is a result of its dedicated focus on the payments industry together with a clear recognition of the need to collaborate with partners. For further information, please visit us at www.alaric.com Press contact: Nicky Davis EvokedSet PR for Alaric International Tel: +44 7747 017654 Email: alaric@evokedset.com Distributed on behalf of Alaric International by NeonDrum Liz Hartney Tel: +44 7510518732 liz.hartney[at]neondrum[dot]com www.neondrum.com

Alaric International appoints Ron Hill to drive growth in Australia and New Zealand markets Payment industry expert joins leading card payments technology provider to head activities in key ANZ region London, England – January 7, 2008 - Alaric International, a leading supplier of advanced technology solutions for the card payments industry, today announced that it has appointed payments industry expert Ron Hill to drive the company's growth activities in the Australia and New Zealand markets. Ron Hill joins Alaric as Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Regional Manager and will spearhead all Alaric’s activities in the region. Ron has a 20 year pedigree in the payments industry and is a familiar name in the Australian payments arena. Most recently Ron Hill held CIO and CTO positions with Customers Limited and Cashcard Australia, both based in Sydney. “Australia and New Zealand is a key market for Alaric’s expanding presence in Asia Pacific,” says Peter Parke, Alaric’s Asia Pacific Director. “The overwhelming majority of institutions are still reliant on first generation platforms and the need to move to more flexible open systems is becoming pressing. Ron is highly regarded in Australia and comes to Alaric with a comprehensive market knowledge and payments background. Ron will be a key figure in enabling a transition to a second generation of payments systems and continuing to build our momentum in this region.” “Alaric is fostering a worldwide reputation for progressive, best-in-class solutions that deliver control and flexibility for critical systems, and competitive edge to customers. I am excited to be joining a team of such high calibre, and I look forward to accelerating Alaric’s expansion and serving the growing customer demand across these important territorities,” comments Ron Hill. Alaric currently has operations in Europe, Australia and the US and has plans to expand its global distribution network in major markets with further office openings this year. - ends - About Alaric Headquartered in London, Alaric is a leading supplier of advanced technology solutions for the card payments industry. Alaric offers java based solutions for card payments authorization and switching, fraud detection and prevention, risk management and payment systems integration. Alaric’s customers include First Data International, Euronet Worldwide, Swisscard, Cornèr Banca and Yorkshire Building Society. Alaric's product set was launched in 2001. Being written in Java, the solutions are fully portable while scalable to meet the needs of the smallest through the largest institution. Alaric's success is a result of its dedicated focus on the payments industry together with a clear recognition of the need to collaborate with partners. For further information, please visit us at www.alaric.com Press contact: Nicky Davis EvokedSet PR for Alaric International Tel: +44 7747 017654 Email: alaric@evokedset.com Distributed on behalf of Alaric International by NeonDrum Liz Hartney Tel: +44 7510518732 liz.hartney[at]neondrum[dot]com www.neondrum.com