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International Card Establishment's Neos Merchant Solutions Announces a Loyalty Card
Program with Fifth Third Bank Processing Solutions
Oxnard, California –October 21, 2004—International Card
Establishment, Inc. (I.C.E.) (OTCBB: ICRD) today announced that
its recently acquired Gift and Loyalty unit, Neos Merchant
Solutions, Inc., is partnering with Fifth Third Bank Processing
Solutions of Cincinnati, Ohio, to rollout its smart card based
loyalty program to Fifth Third’s merchant customers nationwide.
Since it began working with Fifth Third earlier this year, Neos
has been instrumental in training Fifth Third Bank Processing
Solutions' Sales and Relationship Management teams on how the Neos
program provides an optimal loyalty solution to merchants, all
leading to the successful implementation of complete turnkey
programs to their customers.
"We are excited about working together to launch our smart card
based loyalty programs to Fifth Third’s merchant customers," said
H. Wain Swapp, President and CEO, Neos. "Fifth Third has a deep
appreciation of how loyalty programs help both the bank and its
merchants promote customer retention, yielding incremental in
sales per customer, and, by extension, creating a more valuable
customer base."
Neos offers a comprehensive array of Gift and Loyalty card
services, providing superior service, while designing, encoding,
printing and fulfilling all of its customer orders. This degree of
vertical integration allows the company to service its customers
in a fraction of the time that its competitors – who typically
outsource some or all of these processes – take to fill orders.
About Fifth Third Bank Processing Solutions
Fifth Third Bank Processing Solutions is one of the nation’s
largest providers of credit, debit, EBT, ACH and check acceptance
services. Established in 1973, Fifth Third's high-end in-house
processing capabilities offer an unparalleled combination of
flexibility, reliability, experience, and proactive support. Fifth
Third innovations include the development of JEANIE®, the nation's
first modern ATM network and Fifth Third DirectSM, the
industry-leading interactive, Internet-based back-office support
system. As one of the four main businesses operated by Fifth Third
Bancorp, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Fifth Third Bank
Processing Solutions processes nine billion ATM and POS
transactions per year for more than 207,000 merchant locations and
1,350 financial institutions worldwide. More information may be
found at http://www.53.com/.
About Neos Merchant Solutions
www.neosmerchant.com
Neos Merchant Solutions is full service payment processing company
offering a turnkey solution to today’s retail merchants. Neos
offers custom application development, electronic payment
processing, card personalization services, terminal integration &
deployment, and customer support. As an application developer,
Neos has developed a variety of scalable smart card and mag stripe
card applications utilizing all of the elements of stored value
and frequency/loyalty card programs and services. Neos integrates
its proprietary software to many of today’s POS terminal and cash
register interfaces. In addition, Neos offers one of the most
robust internet-based transaction collection and database
reporting systems in the marketplace today.
About I.C.E.
I.C.E. (http://www.cardnetone.com/) is a rapidly growing provider
of diversified products and services to the electronic transaction
processing industry. I.C.E. establishes merchant accounts for
businesses that enable them to accept credit cards, debit cards
and other forms of electronic payments; supplies point-of-sale
systems; facilitates processing; and markets a proprietary “Smart
Card"-based system – which allows gift and loyalty functions to be
stored on one card -- that enables merchants to offer
store-branded gift and loyalty cards.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are
subject to risks and uncertainties. Important factors which could
cause actual results to differ materially from those in the
forward-looking statements, include but are not limited to: the
company's short operating history which makes it difficult to
predict its future results of operations; the company's initial
history of operating losses with possible future losses which
could impede its ability to address the risks and difficulties
encountered by companies in new and rapidly evolving markets; the
company's future operating results could fluctuate which may cause
volatility or a decline in the price of the company's stock; the
possibility that the company may not be able to price its services
above the overall cost causing its financial results to suffer;
and other factors detailed in this press release and in future
company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, at
such time as the company is required to report its results of
operations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
Investor Relations Contact:
PAN Consultants, Ltd.
Philippe Niemetz,
toll-free: 800/477-7570
212/344-6464
email: p.niemetz@panconsultants.com
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