Move in High Street

Datacash Group PLC
10 December 2003


DATACASH MOVES INTO THE HIGH STREET

10th December 2003

DataCash, the UK's largest bank-independent processor of cardholder not present
transactions, has extended the functionality of its outsourced payment gateway
to support new Chip and PIN cardholder present transaction standards. It means
that DataCash can now offer services to high street "bricks and mortar"
retailers for the first time.

The Chip and PIN initiative, introduced by the banking industry earlier this
year, requires card users to enter a four-digit Personal Identification Number
(PIN) instead of signing a paper receipt at the checkout. Figures released by
APACS (Association of Payment and Clearing Services) show that card fraud losses
are growing at about 30 per cent per annum, a cost of £411 million in 2001.
Forecasts show UK losses would be in the region of £800 million by 2005. It is
expected that chip and PIN will reduce credit card fraud by half.

"Banks, retailers and payment processor companies such as DataCash have it in
their sights to beat the fraudsters at every turn," said Gavin Breeze, Business
Development Director of DataCash. "By implementing the right technologies now we
will begin to see a major reduction in credit card fraud in all areas. DataCash
is now working closely with systems integrator partners, retailers and Point of
Sale (POS) software suppliers to roll out our outsourced managed Electronic
Funds Transfer solution for chip and PIN."

To combat card fraud, two facts need to be established at the time of the
transaction: that the card is the genuine item and the person using it is the
true owner. To achieve the first of these, UK banks are already issuing chip
cards that hold the card data so securely that they cannot feasibly be copied or
altered, unlike a magnetic stripe.

To achieve the second, by 1st January 2005 all terminals in the UK need to be
Chip and PIN compliant allowing a cardholder present transaction to be completed
by the customer keying in a Personal Identification Number (PIN). DataCash has
extended its functionality to support both standalone terminals and terminals
integrated into POS systems.



About DataCash

DataCash is the only quoted payment solution provider in Europe. DataCash
processes over 2.7m transactions a month for its clients with a value of over
£300m per month.

DataCash provides outsourced solutions for the authorisation, settlement and
fraud management of credit and debit cards as well as direct debits, direct
credits and cheques. All transactions are accessible to merchants through a
real-time MIS Reporting Suite.

DataCash's fraud management solutions support industry initiatives such as AVS/
CV2 and 3-D Secure's Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode as well as
traditional rules-based fraud screening.

DataCash's solutions are suitable for merchants selling through any channel
including Point of Sale, the Web, Interactive TV, Kiosk, Call Centre and
Interactive Voice Response ('IVR').



For further information about DataCash, please contact:

Sarah Goode
Tel: [phone]

For further press information, please contact:

Glen Goldsmith 
Director 2thefore
Tel: [phone]
Mob: [phone]



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