First Data Corp., a leader in electronic commerce and payment services, announced the expansion of its relationship with Grace, Kennedy Remittance Services Ltd. GKRS will now market TeleCheck check acceptance services to its affiliate companies and other merchants in Jamaica. GKRS has provided Jamaican consumers with money transfer services from First Data subsidiary Western Union since 1990.
The agreement effectively will expand the availability of First Data’s merchant processing services in Jamaica. It will further enable the cross- selling of Western Union and TeleCheck services to a broad range of merchants in Jamaica through GKRS’s extensive network of subsidiaries, affiliates and other merchant contacts. By using TeleCheck’s industry leading database of check-writer information, GKRS affiliate and merchant clients will be able to reduce check fraud when accepting payment at the point of sale or providing check cashing services on U.S. drawn checks.
“This agreement represents a significant step forward in our strategy to add the full range of First Data products to the Western Union agent briefcase,” said Charlie Fote, First Data president and CEO. “Layering TeleCheck services on top of our base money transfer and bill payment products gives us another platform to further develop our enterprise-wide sales efforts and more fully leverage the global distribution advantage of our 130,000 money transfer locations. We are committed to bringing additional merchant-based payment services to our agents around the world.”
“As the Western Union agent in Jamaica, GKRS views this achievement positively as it represents the fulfillment of First Data’s commitment to create opportunities for global expansion and cross-selling of their products and services,” said Brian Goldson, GKRS managing director. “As a Western Union agent, complementing our payment offerings with TeleCheck’s services presents tremendous growth opportunity for GKRS, and we look forward to building our successful relationship with First Data.”
GKRS was the Western Union Agent of the year in 2001 and was one of the top 25 revenue-producing agents for First Data Corporation.
About First Data and TeleCheck
Houston-based TeleCheck Services, Inc., subsidiary of First Data Corp., is the world’s leading provider of paper and electronic check services, helping nearly 306,000 retail, financial institution, grocery, convenience store and other industry clients to increase their profitability, reduce risk and streamline operations. As a leader in electronic commerce and payment services, First Data serves approximately 2.8 million merchant locations, 1,400 card issuers and millions of consumers, making it easy, fast and secure for people and businesses to buy goods and services using virtually any form of payment. With 29,000 employees worldwide, the company provides credit, debit, smart card and stored-value card issuing and merchant transaction processing services; Internet commerce solutions; Western Union(R) money transfer services and money orders; and check processing and verification services around the world. For more information, please visit First Data on the web at , or TeleCheck at .
About Grace, Kennedy Remittance Services Ltd.
Grace, Kennedy Remittance Services Limited (GKRS) is the exclusive agent of Western Union Financial Services in Jamaica. The alliance saw the expansion of GKRS into Trinidad and Tobago in 1992 and in Guyana in 1993. The local Western Union network in the three markets now stands at over two hundred locations. The network sees merchant types ranging from retail outlets, banks and stand alones in all markets.
