Whittle Transaction Group Acquired by Planet Payment

Payment Transaction Innovator to Drive Global Distribution
of Dynamic Currency Conversion Technologies for POS Terminals
Wed, 04 May 2005 12:50 PM PDT

LONG BEACH, N.Y., May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Planet Payment announced today that it has acquired the assets of Whittle Transaction Group, an innovative payment technology developer led by Paul Whittle. The acquisition will enable Planet Payment to facilitate the rapid implementation and distribution of dynamic currency conversion processing capabilities in point-of-sale (POS) terminal devices, including the Planet Payment Hypercom® T7Plus DCC Application developed by Whittle Transaction Group. This application was recently Class "A" certified by Vital Processing.

Planet Payment's DCC applications for POS terminals give international cardholders the option to complete purchases in their home currency at a merchant's point-of-sale. The POS application identifies an international card at the time it is swiped, and the transaction amount is converted into the customer's home currency, in real-time. The cardholder elects whether to complete the transaction in the merchant's currency or the cardholder's home currency. If the home currency is chosen, the POS terminal prints a receipt with transaction details, including the exchange rate applied, the transaction amount in the merchant's currency and the cardholder's home currency amount - all in full compliance with Visa® and MasterCard® regulations. The cardholder's monthly statement will reflect the exact home currency amount that was printed on the receipt, while the merchant's financial settlement, accounting and reporting through its acquiring bank remains in the merchant's currency.

The acquisition has been completed, and substantially all of the assets of Whittle Transaction Group, including the WTG front-end transaction "switching" technology, have been placed into Planet Technology Services, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Planet Payment focused upon development of point-of-sale terminal applications. Paul Whittle, the founder of Whittle Transaction Group, has joined Planet Payment as Senior Vice President, focusing upon POS applications that enable localized pricing, and will manage Planet Technology Services, Inc.

Planet Technology Services will continue to offer POS terminal development services to processors, retailers, and government agencies with specialization in all non-cash payment methods using the most advanced development tools. The team that is now operating as Planet Technology Services consists of seasoned veterans with many years of experience in the payments and telecommunications industries.

"The acquisition of Whittle Transaction Group is another milestone in Planet Payment's effort to provide best-in-class localized payment solutions to merchants and acquirers anywhere in the world, in any industry category, using the point-of-sale technology of their choice," said Philip D. Beck, Chief Executive Officer of Planet Payment. "From Hypercom's terminal products to multi-host support and transaction switching software, few people have contributed as much to the advancement of the POS terminal technology as Paul Whittle. We are very excited that Paul has joined the Planet Payment team."

About Planet Payment®

Planet Payment helps merchants to sell more products to international customers, while offering increased revenues and reduced costs on the underlying transaction. A specialty payment processor since 1999, Planet Payment is a leading provider of multi-currency processing solutions, including dynamic currency conversion (DCC), for acquirers and their merchants, anywhere in the world. Planet Payment provides a full suite of outsourced and customized multi-currency processing solutions to support the diverse needs of acquirers and merchants for which international cardholders are important to their business.