News

First Data completes acquisition of German company

June 13, 2006

DENVER - First Data International completed its acquisition of Germany-based GZS, a card-based payment-transactions processor, the company announced in a press release.

Network solutions provider Easycash, a GZS subsidiary, will be sold by First Data as part of the regulatory terms of the acquisition. First Data already owns TeleCash, a strong supplier of network solutions in Germany.

The acquisition of GZS enables First Data to support banks in meeting the preconditions of a Single European Payments Area (SEPA), as stipulated by the European Commission. It also complements First Data's expansion into Greece in 2004 and during 2005 into Austria, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Serbia and Montenegro, Russia, Hungary and the Nordic region.

GZS provides card processing and settlement services as well as cross-border debit and fraud management solutions to its banking clients. The company processes nearly one billion transactions per year and provides processing services for more than 8.5 million German and Swiss credit cards that have been outsourced to GZS by the banks.