Altair Financial Services International Plc - Altair Delivers Manchester City FC Seasoncard with PayPass

The Manchester City FC MasterCard® Prepaid Seasoncard with PayPass™Store this angel in big sizeAltair Financial Services International Plc (Altair) accept helped bear the aboriginal amphitheater contactless prepaid agenda in Europe, the Manchester City FC MasterCard® Prepaid Seasoncard with PayPass™, with MBNA and MasterCard. The agenda will alter the accepted division admission currently issued to supporters.

“We are captivated to accept delivered such an avant-garde and arresting transaction agenda program, which is a allotment of the a lot of technically beat in the apple today,” says Lee Britton, Altair CEO. “The cards accomplish use of EMV functionality, which has never been implemented on a prepaid agenda affairs before, enabling the cards to administer their own authorisation action if acclimated at contactless terminals.”

The Manchester City FC MasterCard Prepaid Seasoncard, currently on balloon with 3,500 division admission holders, combines for the aboriginal time three applications in a individual area of plastic. The agenda food associates abstracts and is able of interfacing contactlessly to the Manchester City Stadium turnstiles to acquiesce access to home matches, it aswell supports accepted Chip and PIN payments and contactless payments with MasterCard PayPass.

“Essentially, a cardholder could use their agenda to access the amphitheater and pay for their halftime meal and drinks by artlessly borer their agenda with contactless enabled merchants. In addition, cardholders can use their agenda alfresco of the amphitheater to accomplish purchases with their agenda at both cavity and PIN and contactless point of auction devices. Furthermore, cardholders can amount their agenda with added funds either online at www.mcfc.co.uk, over the buzz on 0870 062 1894, or via a Payzone point at retailers,” Says Britton.

Brendan Jones, Product Executive at MBNA, said: “The Manchester City FC MasterCard Prepaid Seasoncard with Paypass is a abundant addition in amphitheater technology. We accept this abstraction will plan both central and alfresco of stadia, and will revolutionise the way humans use cash.”

Chris Reddish, Global Product Head of Prepaid Europe, MasterCard, said, "The ability of the Seasoncard is that it combines the artlessness and availability of prepaid with the acceleration and beheading of a PayPass transaction.”

The contactless agenda abstraction has been accurate by millions of cartage globally that use RFID enabled cards for accessible alteration daily. The Manchester City FC MasterCard Prepaid Seasoncard is the aboriginal of the next bearing access ascendancy cards that action acceleration and accessibility both on access and on purchases already central the stadium. Altair believes stadia, sports and music contest are next in band to crop advantage of the allowances of implementing agnate prepaid contactless agenda programs.

Products like this accept huge allowances to amphitheater owners, as they not alone amalgamate associates management, acceptance ascendancy and an accessible bend transaction artefact into a individual calmly acquiescent area of plastic, but aswell accept huge allowances to amphitheater owners with their abeyant to abolish banknote from the amphitheater ambiance which can be a above time and money overhead.

The agenda supports EMV scripting which allows Altair to dynamically amend abstracts captivated on axle the agenda if it is acclimated in a Chip and PIN reader. This is a able apparatus which allows administration of alone cards, in abutment of artifice control, offline antithesis management, agenda blocking and so forth.

Richard Pinnick, Head of Global Strategic Projects at Fortress GB, the aggregation amenable for the accouterment of the appliance that controls associates and acceptance to the amphitheater commented, “The coexistence of assorted applications, managed by altered organisations, on a individual MasterCard represents a breakthrough footfall advanced in cerebration for the agenda industry, artlessly apprenticed by the needs of the fan. It opens the way to new and avant-garde agenda programmes that bear a complication of functions and casework that best fit the affairs and ambiance of the consumer”

Altair Financial Services International Plc
3rd Floor, 37 Maddox Street, London, W1S 2PP
Tel: +44 (0)20 7659 1140
Fax: +44 (0)20 7900 2511
www.altair-financial.com

About Altair Financial Services International Plc
Altair Financial Services International Plc was congenital in 2005 as a all-around provider of Prepaid Card solutions with added functionality. Altair acquired accustomed transaction processing company, Symmetrex, Inc. in March 2007. Altair is headquartered in London with cyberbanking and processing relationships in UK, USA, Asia Pacific and throughout the Latin America and Caribbean regions and issues on account of MasterCard® and Visa.

Altair solutions are advised to be adjustable abundant to accommodate companies with about any blazon of prepaid agenda functionality, including accessible and bankrupt bend programs. Through its accord with MasterCard® all Altair cards issued in Europe are based on Chip & PIN technology and are EMV standards compliant. Altair is a certified issuer and transaction processor of contactless (MasterCard® PayPass™) prepaid cards in the United Kingdom. For added information, appointment www.altair-financial.com

About MBNA Europe Bank:
MBNA Europe, a wholly endemic accessory of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), is the accustomed baton in affection marketing. MBNA acclaim cards and accompanying articles and casework are accustomed by added than 5,000 organisations worldwide. For added information, appointment the company’s Web website at www.mbna.com or Bank of America’s website at www.bankofamerica.com.

About MasterCard PayPass and Maestro PayPass:
PayPass is MasterCard’s ‘contactless’ transaction feature, which provides consumers with a fast and acceptable addition to banknote for their accustomed baby purchases, such as accessible carriage tickets, coffee, sandwiches or fast food, petrol and others. It can be added to any MasterCard credit, debit or prepaid card, or to a Maestro debit card. PayPass allows merchants to action added calmly and serve their barter better. PayPass speeds consumers through the check-out process, reduces banknote handling, improves ability and provides aggressive differentiation.

As of Q4 2007, there are over 23 actor PayPass cards and accessories in use at added than 95,000 assorted merchant locations globally, including Major League Baseball and National Football League sports stadiums in the US; fast aliment outlets McDonald’s, Burger King and Starbucks; accessibility food 7-Eleven, CVS and Duane Reed; Coca-Cola Enterprises’ automat machines and New York City alms and taxis. PayPass is currently accepting trialled or formed out in 24 countries, including France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Canada, Korea, Taiwan and the United States. For added advice about MasterCard PayPass and Maestro PayPass, appointment www.mastercard.co.uk/paypass.

About MasterCard Europe
MasterCard Europe is the article amenable for managing MasterCard Worldwide’s business in Europe, for Europe. With address in Waterloo, Belgium, MasterCard Europe works with 51 European countries organized administratively into three chump areas, accumulation the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), complete markets and the developing markets of Europe, addition as far afield as the eastern apprenticed of Russia. Through its arrangement of bounded offices, MasterCard Europe can accept and accommodated the assorted needs of barter in the actual altered types of markets throughout Europe, enabling humans to do business in their own way in their own language.

Through MasterCard Worldwide, MasterCard Europe offers its European barter and consumers acceptance to arch transaction casework throughout the world. MasterCard Worldwide advances all-around business by accouterment a analytical bread-and-butter hotlink a allotment of banking institutions, businesses, cardholders and merchants worldwide. As a franchisor, processor and advisor, MasterCard develops and markets transaction solutions, processes over 16 billion affairs anniversary year, and provides industry-leading appraisal and consulting casework to banking academy barter and merchants. Through its ancestors of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro® and Cirrus®, MasterCard serves consumers and businesses in added than 210 countries and territories. For added information, go to www.mastercard.com.