MANAMA, Bahrain and LONG BEACH, N.Y., Aug. 29, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Network International, the leading payment solutions provider in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Planet Payment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLPM), a leading international and multi-currency payment processor, launched Pay in Your Currency®, Planet Payment’s Dynamic Currency Conversion solution, in Bahrain, with Ahli United Bank (AUB), Bahrain’s leading bank.
The agreement builds upon the strategic alliance between Network International and AUB, announced in 2012, to deliver a comprehensive merchant acquiring solution for AUB’s portfolio of merchants. With the new ‘Pay in Your Currency’ facility, AUB’s merchants have the ability to offer eligible international customers the convenience of paying for their purchases in their own currency. With this personalized payment solution, merchants will still receive funding and settlement in Bahraini Dinar while delivering enhanced customer service and reducing the cost of payment card acceptance.
With over ten million international visitors to Bahrain in 2015, the country represents a ready market for Pay in Your Currency. Pay in Your Currency provides AUB’s merchants with a new tool to cater to this growing market of international visitors and differentiate themselves among other merchants.
“Pay in Your Currency provides our merchants with an innovative solution that will help them better serve the growing number of international visitors to Bahrain,” said Abdulla Al Raeesi, Deputy Group CEO, Retail Banking, Ahli United Bank. “Thanks to our partnering with Network International and Planet Payment, we are delighted to bring this multi-currency solution to our merchants. AUB will continue to offer innovative and state-of-the-art value added services to our merchants to be the card acquirer of choice in Bahrain.”
“Network International is deeply committed to offer merchants and customers innovative and convenient payment solutions. We are excited to now launch this service with our processing partner, Ahli United Bank in Bahrain,” said Bhairav Trivedi, Group Chief Executive Officer, Network International. “We have seen proven success with this solution in other areas of the Middle East, and the time is right to bring this multi-currency solution to Bahrain.”
“Planet Payment is pleased to expand our long-standing partnership with Network International to bring Pay in Your Currency to Ahli United Bank’s merchants in Bahrain,” said Jonathan Ellis, Managing Director, EMEA at Planet Payment. “We believe that Pay in Your Currency delivers solid benefits to both merchants and their customers and we look forward to the roll-out of our solution across AUB’s portfolio of merchants.”
About Network International:
Established in 1994, Network International LLC is the largest acquirer in the UAE, and a leading payment solutions provider in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). The company’s service offering comprises a comprehensive range of payment products and services for both the Issuing and Acquiring segments of banks, financial institutions and retail merchants. This includes credit, debit and prepaid card processing, ATM management and monitoring, merchant acquiring and processing, fraud management, e-commerce services and mobile solutions for the payments industry, with the objective of enabling speedy, secure and convenient payment transactions for customers. In addition, the company offers several value-add products including data analytics, scoring and loyalty solutions. Network International has operation centers in the UAE, Egypt and India, with its corporate head office in Dubai. The company recently acquired Emerging Markets Payments Holdings Limited (EMPH) and continues to invest in strategic partnerships that will increasingly see its influence spread across the region.
Network International is a Principal Member of Visa International and MasterCard International in the UAE and enjoys extension of its MasterCard License in other key countries. It is also a member of JCB and Union Pay card schemes, and it owns and manages the Diners Club International Franchise in the UAE, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. In 2013, the company launched a GCC based domestic scheme, Mercury, and partnered with Discover Financial Services (DFS) to allow global acceptance of Mercury cards on the Discover, Diners Club International and PULSE networks. Network International, a Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) certified company, is also a major player in the international remittance industry and owns a 100 percent stake in TimesofMoney Ltd., a leading global online remittance and digital payments company facilitating cross-border remittances and domestic payments in emerging economies.
About Planet Payment
Planet Payment is a leading provider of international payment processing and multi-currency processing services. We provide our services in 22 countries and territories across the Asia Pacific region, North America, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, primarily through our 75 acquiring bank and processor customers. Our point-of-sale and e-commerce services help merchants sell more goods and services to consumers, and together with our ATM services are integrated within the payment card transaction flow enabling our acquiring customers, their merchants and consumers to shop, pay, transact and reconcile payment transactions in multiple currencies, geographies and channels.
Planet Payment is headquartered in New York and has offices in Atlanta, Beijing, Bermuda, Delaware, Dubai, Dublin, London, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Shanghai and Singapore. Visit www.planetpayment.com for more information about the Company and its services.
About Ahli United Bank
With headquarters in Bahrain and full-fledged operations across the Middle East and the UK, Ahli United Bank (AUB) is a leading pan-regional financial services provider, offering a full range of retail, commercial and private banking & wealth management services, both conventional and Sharia-compliant, to a growing client base in Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Iraq, Egypt, Libya and the United Kingdom. AUB remains focused on building a resilient, prudent and well-diversified financial services group to better service its clients and enhance shareholder value on a sustainable basis.
AUB’s strong performance has earned it a string of prestigious accolades over the years, including: "Best Bank in the Middle East (2012)” by Euromoney; “Best Bank in Bahrain -2015" for the tenth year running by both Global Finance and Euromoney and “Bank of the Year -2015” by The Banker for the tenth consecutive year.