MARKHAM, Ontario, April 29, 2009 – Everlink, a leading provider of Integrated Payment Solutions and Services in the Canadian marketplace, announced the successful deployment of EMV Chip ATM Acquiring and EMV Credit Card Issuing for one of Canada’s leading Schedule 1 banks, Laurentian Bank of Canada (LBC).

Everlink, Interac EMV Certified since 2007 for Shared Cash Dispensing (SCD), delivered this significant milestone project on time, in cooperation with IBM, CGI, OKIOK and LBC.

LBC is now enabled to acquire EMV Visa / PLUS and Interac cards on their ATMs, as well as issue EMV credit cards with the first card scheduled for May 7th, 2009.

Everlink was pleased to partner with LBC in helping them attain their EMV Chip objectives, namely to:

• Ensure LBC ATMs driven by Everlink can successfully acquire transactions using either Magnetic Stripe Cards or Chip Cards.
• Ensure that sufficient EMV data is passed to LBC for ATM Credit Card Chip transactions to enable LBC of FDR to perform Chip Card authentication and authorization.
• Partner with LBC to complete EMV certification of the Everlink interface to VISA (ATM Acquirer, ATM Issuer, and POS Issuer).

“Financial Institutions need the latest Payment Processing innovations to tackle the growing complexities and fraudulent activities prevalent in today’s payment industry,” said Mark Ripplinger, President of Everlink. “The delivery of End-to-End EMV Transactions (SCD) for the Schedule 1 Laurentian Bank of Canada is one more example of how Everlink provides Canadian Financial Institutions and Credit Unions with the required tools to make their businesses secure, manageable and profitable.”

“LBC, and more importantly their clients, NOW stand to realize three primary benefits with the adoption of EMV Chip solutions: As Chip cards are very difficult to copy, they ensure the mitigation of fraudulent activity. Secondly, LBC clients can now enjoy an even greater sense of confidence in their banking payment infrastructure. Finally, the most important benefit of Chip cards lies in Multi-Application cards carrying a series of applications from LBC and their partners that can be tailored to suit specific groups of customers.”

“Congratulations are in order for Everlink Payment Services,” stated Sylvain Malo, VP Direct Financial Services, Laurentian Bank of Canada. “Their on-time delivery of our End-to-End EMV Chip Transaction (SCD) project resulted in our first Visa Chip transaction on April 29th at 9:55 a.m. The first EMV Chip Implementation on April 29th was a resounding success. Thanks to the tremendous Teamwork accomplished in the past months from Everlink, IBM, CGI, OKIOK and our group at Laurentian, we have successfully completed the first step towards the completion of future implementations.”

Proven EMV Chip Services to Assist Your Migration
With the first Interac EMV deadline of 2010 looming, spend less time worrying about your EMV Chip Migration efforts and spend more time growing your business. Everlink, a select member of the multi-lateral Kitchener-Waterloo EMV trial, is ready to assist Financial Institutions, Group Processors and Connectors in scheduling, planning and implementing their EMV Chip Migration.

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About Everlink
Everlink Payment Services Inc. based in Markham, ON, is a joint-venture company owned by FIS and Celero Solutions, and is fully compliant and EMV certified with the Interac, MasterCard and Visa associations. Everlink is a recognized leader in the dependable secure delivery of Electronic Transaction Processing services, EMV Chip, Managed ATM Services and Integrated Payment Solutions in the Canadian financial services marketplace. Everlink is the first in Canada to instantly issue a fully personalized, Interac and MasterCard certified EMV Chip card.