If your intrested in the stored value card deals listed in my last post, here are all the news releases:
MIAMI--March 1, 2005--GlobeTel Communications Corp. today announced that the company has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Banco Azteca, the fifth largest financial institution in Mexico and part of the Salinas Group of Companies (Grupo Salinas). The agreement with Banco Azteca further cements GlobeTel's position in Mexico serving the Latin American market segment.
The LOI will establish the framework for creation of a detailed contract between Banco Azteca and GlobeTel whereby GlobeTel will add stored value services and functionality to existing Banco Azteca VISA debit cards and support the bank's enhanced stored value services for their cards. At present, GlobeTel personnel are working closely with the Banco Azteca team on the initial stage to develop the technical infrastructure that will enable over 2.5 million Banco Azteca issued debit cards with prepaid long distance calling functionality to be used both in Mexico and the United States.
Both Banco Azteca and GlobeTel are working on further contract details which will not only include GlobeTel serving as a “Stored Value Services Enabler” of Banco Azteca's existing card products and services but also for Banco Azteca and GlobeTel to work together to jointly develop new product and service offerings that will further benefit the market segment.
Timothy Huff, CEO of GTEL, stated, “It is our honor to be working with an organization such as Banco Azteca and on a larger scope, Grupo Salinas. The relationship we are creating further expands on our commitment to not only the Latin American market segment but further clarifies our continued growth and business concentration in the Mexican market. We feel that our relationship with Banco Azteca will be a long, profitable and beneficial arrangement to both firms in our long-lasting efforts to support one of the most rapidly growing market segments.”
According to Gloria Albarran, Director of Bank Cards for Banco Azteca, “we've been looking for new products and services for our existing and new card products and programs that would bring additional untapped revenue through increased card usage. At the same time, these new products will deliver additional value and services to our cardholders. The partnership with GlobeTel will do just that for our card programs.”
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GTEL Announces Strategic Alliance with Philippine Telecom Giant Globe Telecom
Memorandum of Agreement Signed to Develop and Launch G-Cash, A Money Transfer System for over 10 Million Globe Mobile Phone Subscribers in the Philippines
October 18, 2004
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 18, 2004-- GlobeTel Communications Corp. today announced that a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Philippine mobile giant Globe Telecom (Globe) has been signed to jointly develop an integrated payment system which will combine GTEL's stored value card payment processing capabilities with Globe's SMS applications technology.
The purpose of this program is to allow GTEL stored value cardholders to send money directly to family and friends through their Globe Mobile Phone. With this new technology, the SMS/text recipient is then able to withdraw funds from major Filipino retail outlet chains.
Globe Telecom is the second largest cellular phone operator in the Philippines with over 10 million subscribers. Globe, and its experienced leadership team has consistently won awards in Asia for their development and deployment of cutting edge technology for value added SMS applications. In 2004, Globe was awarded Best-Managed Asian Telecom and Most Innovative SMS Application respectively by Asia's leading financial and industry publications.
Anton Romulo, GTEL Managing Director for South East Asia, said "We are very exceptionally honored to be allied with Globe Telecom in launching G-Cash. The Philippines has long been widely considered the SMS capital of the world with an astounding average daily volume in excess of 50,000,000 text messages sent and received. "Texting" has become an integral part of Filipino daily life, and we are sure that G-Cash will soon become included as a part of mainstream popular culture. With GTEL in the USA and Globe Telecom in the Philippines, the G-Cash platform allows both companies to quickly increase our penetration into the Filipino-American market, both in the Continental US as well as the Philippine islands."
Joey Mendoza, Head of Business Development for Globe Telecom stated "We are extremely pleased to be partnering with GTEL in the development and launch of an integrated payment solution for our subscribers. We plan to launch a powerful solution that combines GTEL's distribution channels and advanced stored value card technology platform with our award winning SMS applications."
Leigh Coleman, President of GTEL stated that "This agreement with a company of the size and caliber of Globe Telecom will begin to change the way Filipinos remit funds internationally. It will significantly lower the overall cost of remittances. Equally important, it will make the process far easier and convenient."
Coleman further added, "This innovative and new service offering will serve as another advantage to Filipino people in a way to remit funds. This is just one more example of the social benefits that GTEL product and service offerings support. This social value is consistent with one of the many purposes that stored value was created. We are very passionate about the social values as well as the monetary value. We are proud to be associated with this program and look forward to increasing our presence in the Filipino and Asian markets for Stored Value Cards and Remittances."
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MIAMI, Sep 14, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- GlobeTel Communications Corp. ( GTEL ) today announced that it has signed a Letter of Understanding with Equitable Cards Network (ECN), the largest Visa credit and debit card issuer in the Philippines with over 2.5 million Visa credit and debit cards combined. ECN is a subsidiary of Equitable PCIB, the third largest bank in the Philippines.
Under the agreement, GTEL will interface with ECN's systems to seamlessly issue prepaid cards to remittance recipients in the Philippines and issue prepaid Visa Electron debit cards to its cardholders. The card, the ECN E-card XP, will allow free withdrawals from 400 Equitable ATMs, and access to 5,000 Megalink and BancNet ATMs in the Philippines.
Anton Romulo, Managing Director for GTEL-SEA stated, "We are pleased to commence our relationship with ECN. Aside from the no-hassle convenience and added security the ECN E-card XP offers, ECN also offers the MTV E-Card XP. The MTV E-card XP comes bundled with exciting client discounts in select merchant locations in the Philippines and makes the ideal gift."
Ms. Teresita Tanbonliong, First Vice President for Marketing for ECN, stated, "We are pleased to offer our XP prepaid cards to GTEL clients worldwide, and wish GTEL every success in their card-to-card remittance service."
Mr. Timothy Huff, CEO of Globetel, expressed "that the marketing roll out of the GTEL stored value program, focusing on remittances is now gathering momentum and 2005 will show GTEL operating these programs across four continents and resulting in substantial revenues and profitability."
About Equitable Card Network and Equitable PCIB
Equitable CardNetwork, Inc. is both an issuer and acquirer of VISA, VISA Electron, MasterCard & JCB and the only issuer of American Express(R) credit cards in the Philippines. As a result, Equitable cards and its network of tie-up banks and financial institutions nationwide account for the largest share of the local market in terms of cardholder base and gross sales volume. In addition, ECN has the most number of accredited merchant establishments in the country, making the Equitable VISA, Equitable MasterCard, Equitable JCB, Equitable American Express(R) and its affiliated cards, the most widely accepted credit cards in the Philippines.
Equitable PCI Bank marks its 54th year of existence in 2004. It is presently the country's third largest bank, enjoying leadership in corporate and commercial banking, credit and payment cards, remittances, leasing, and investment banking. It has over 400 branches.
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MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 9, 2004--GTEL (OTCBB:GTEL) and Timesofmoney.com announced today the signing of an MOU in which www.timesofmoney.com would provide direct deposit facilities to 54 banks and issue prepaid cards in India for GTEL cardholders.
The Indian remittance market is the one of the largest in the world, slightly behind Mexico and amounts to approximately $9 billion per year.
Anton Romulo, Managing Director for GTEL-SEA: "Times of Money is THE premier financial web portal for Non-resident Indians (NRIs) around the world, and we in GTEL are extremely delighted to be partners of this prestigious group. By combining GTEL's marketing programs and loading points in the USA together with our IVR and Web messaging systems, with Times of Money's 54 banking relationships and prepaid card channels in India, I believe that our product now provides one of the most compelling and pervasive remittance service for the NRI market today."
Suresh Rangarajan, Chief Operating Officer of TimesofMoney.com, said, "TimesofMoney.com has evolved into a provider of cutting edge online remittance solutions and the preferred partner for the Banking Industry across the Asia Pacific Region. We are excited about our alliance with GTEL and are convinced about the synergies this relationship brings to the table and are confident that with GTEL's unique prepaid card, the service is poised for growth."
Mr. Leigh Coleman, President of GTEL, stated: "That the focus on GTEL was to develop strong relationships in our international markets and to partner with a company of the caliber of the Times of Money is a great move forward in developing our international remittance program."
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MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 7, 2004--Bankard, Inc. and GlobeTel Communications Corp. (GTEL) (OTCBB:GTEL - News) announced today the signing of a definitive Memorandum of Agreement which will allow GTEL to issue and process stored value cards under Bankard.
A major market for GTEL is the overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who remit approximately $7.6 billion annually. This stored value program is designed specifically to offer a friendly, low cost, low risk and affordable way for the 7 million Filipinos who send money home.
Anton Romulo, Managing Director-SEA for GTEL, stated, "This agreement with Bankard is a cornerstone for our Card-to-Card remittance initiative in the Philippines. Via Bankard, GTEL now has the flexibility to issue stored value cards that bundle IDD calling cards, insurance policies, education plans, and other virtual products in a simple, convenient format for both the Filipino overseas workers and their loved ones at home. The GTEL Bankard Card will also allow customers to access 5,000 ATMs locally for about $0.25 a transaction.
Joven Reyes, President and CEO of Bankard, said: "GTEL's stored value card is exciting to us as it gives us multiple points of distribution throughout the Americas and soon the other G7 countries. As we integrate our card platform with GTEL, we are confident we can channel a significant portion of the $7.6 billion OFW remittance market through our payment gateways."
Mr. Leigh Coleman, President of GTEL stated that the partnership with Bankard: "is a key part of our US and international marketing plans to position GTEL as a major participant in the $143 billion remittance industry and we look forward to working closely with the team in Bankard to focus on the needs of Filipinos living and working overseas."
About Bankard and RCBC:
Bankard is the only listed credit card company in the Philippine Stock Exchange. Bankard issues and acquires Visa, Mastercard and JCB marks, and has a portfolio of about 280,000 cards.
Bankard is a subsidiary of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), the Philippines' fifth largest private domestic commercial bank with total consolidated assets of about PhP 164 billion (or US$3.0 billion) as of end-December 2001. The Yuchengco Group - one of the country's largest and strongest business conglomerates with interests in banking, insurance, manufacturing, realty development, among others - and The United Financial of Japan hold substantial stakes in the bank at 56% and 25% shares, respectively.
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MIAMI, Aug 19, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- GlobeTel Communications Corp. (GTEL) announced today that it has reached an agreement with Grupo Ingedigit C.A. ("GI") to establish a new business to profit from providing U.S. and worldwide financial transaction processing services. The venture will be managed by GTEL operating from its facilities in Miami, Florida and will mirror GI's successful operations in Venezuela.
With this new venture, GTEL is expanding its capabilities to profit from the electronic processing of financial transactions. Traditionally, these processing services would be provided by third parties at a cost to GTEL. GTEL will now earn fees from its customers' use of their GTEL stored value Magic Money debit and prepaid credit cards for financial transactions, bundled telecom and overseas money remittance services, and, under this new agreement, GTEL will also profit from the processing of these transactions as well as processing transactions on behalf of third party debit and credit card issuers.
GI is a well established international financial transaction processor certified by MasterCard and other financial networks, and the leading electronic financial transactions services backbone provider for the banking industry in Venezuela. GI currently supports major international bank sponsored programs from a platform in Venezuela.
Both parties are contributing equally to the venture. Upon its completion, the Miami switch is expected to be certified to process MasterCard, Visa, Cirrus and other independent ATM transaction networks. Operations are expected to begin before the end of the year. GI's will shift much of its current processing to the Miami switch with the Venezuela switch serving certain international requirements for each program and as well as redundancy for the GTEL network.
GTEL and GI will contribute their current and future business opportunities and customers for processing at the new Miami switch. GI will bring the processing of existing and new programs in Latin America, as well as other new and exciting opportunities in the U.S. and elsewhere. GTEL will bring all the Magic Money Card projects underway in the U.S. and throughout Mexico, Latin America, the Philippines and Australia. The Magic Money Cards are directed at the large immigrant communities that live and work in the U.S. to primarily call and send money home.
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MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 5, 2004--GlobeTel Communications Corp. (OTCBB:GTEL - News) today announced that First Class Professional Human Resources, Inc. (FC Professional), a Philippines corporation based in Manila, signed an agreement with GTEL to launch the GTEL Stored Value Program in Japan to its members.
FC Professional represents approximately 40,000 Filipino workers in Japan. It is a member association of FAME (Federated Associations of Manpower Exporters) which represents over 75% of the millions of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW's).
The remittance program, an application of GTEL's Stored Value Program, will provide a low cost, easy to use, convenient, risk free remittance capability while adding significant other benefits to users of the program. These benefits will include low cost international calling & loyalty discounts.
Leigh Coleman, President of GTEL said, "The new program in Japan is an indication of the strong benefits provided by GTEL's program and the recognition of GTEL as a leading international provider of advanced remittance and other stored value programs."
Jackson Gan, CEO of FC Professional stated, "We are excited about what this program can do for our members. I have taken a look at other programs in the past, but GTEL's is by far the most comprehensive and complete. Nothing else I have seen comes close."
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Aug 3, 2004 9:01:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines, Aug 3, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
FAME (Federated Associations of Manpower Exporters, Inc.) announced its intention to endorse GlobeTel's (OTCBB:GTEL) Stored Value Program for 2.5 million Filipinos working overseas. FAME represents over 75% of overseas workers through its member associations and has strong support organizations in many overseas countries, particularly in the USA, Asia, Middle East, Japan, Hong Kong and Europe.
The GTEL remittance program, an application of the Stored Value Concept, will provide a low cost, easy to use, convenient, risk free remittance capability while adding significant other benefits to users of the program. These benefits will include low cost international calling & loyalty discounts.
Leigh Coleman, President of GTEL said: "This endorsement from one of the Philippines most prominent organizations representing overseas workers, shows that GTEL's programs are leading innovations in money remittance programs worldwide. The Philippines is third only to Mexico and India in total value of international money transfers. We are excited and honored by this recognition from FAME and look forward to providing significant benefits to all workers who shoulder the task of working overseas remitting valuable funds to families at home."
Eduardo Mahiya, Chairman of FAME said: "We at FAME are very careful about endorsing anything that will affect the lives of our people. However, we feel the program offered by GTEL is exactly what we have been looking for to empower our people to better handle their own finances. The program is superb."
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MIAMI(BUSINESS WIRE)July 19, 2004--GlobeTel Communications Corp. (OTCBB:GTEL) is pleased to announce today the expansion of its wireless applications to fully integrate with its Magic Money Stored Value Program.
Currently GTEL’s TXT card product provides wireless access to international calling card services via SMS messaging. However, new developments announced today will integrate TXT card features into GlobeTel’s Stored Value Program directly as well as provide the ability to process financial transactions wirelessly, such as bill payments and money transfers.
Customers will be able to purchase low cost international calling cards or transfer money overseas via their cell phone as well as access many types of prepaid information services.
Premium content products and services, new calling card features like mobile conference Connect, and access to the lowest cost calling plans, independent of country location, are planned developments.
GTEL also announced new partnerships in the US with SMSaging and Movil1, who are SMS and Wireless specialists, who will partner with GTEL to provide the technical support needed to launch these initiatives in the US and UK in the 4th Quarter 2004.
These new products and applications will replace and enhance the initiatives announced earlier this year that were to be produced by Hybyte and Chris Tooley in the United Kingdom.
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