MARKHAM, ON – Everlink Payment Services Inc. is pleased to announce that First Calgary Financial – the 11th largest credit union in Canada (by asset size) – has made the move to Everlink’s Instant Card Issuance (ICI) and Central Card Issuance (CCI) solutions for all of their debit card issuance needs effective June 27, 2013.

With the assistance of Everlink’s EMV expertise and solutions, First Calgary Financial will be issuing dual interface debit cards over the next five years with the launch of the new card product scheduled across all of their branches for the end of 2013.

“We are thrilled at the response that we have received from credit unions across Canada with regards to our Card Issuance and Management solutions,” says Jim Hackett, Vice President Business Development at Everlink. “By selecting a combination of our Instant Card Issuance and Central Card Issuance solutions to satisfy their debit card issuance needs, First Calgary Financial will be able to bring significant added value to their members and differentiate themselves from their competitors.”

“When First Calgary Financial undertook a debit card review, we discovered Everlink’s unique instant issuance platform, enhanced security features and the opportunity to introduce Interac Flash technology to our members,” says John Dundas, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Operations at First Calgary Financial.  “These compelling findings resulted in First Calgary Financial expanding our relationship with Everlink to include Instant Card Issuance and Central Card Issuance. We look forward to Everlink helping us to provide increased value to our membership in the quickly-changing world of payments.”

Everlink’s ICI solution features a choice of high-definition financial card printers that instantly produce a fully functional and personalized card with customizable images and graphics within minutes of a member/customer signup at the branch. ICI enhances the overall member/customer experience by supporting the immediate issuance of new cards, or the replacement of damaged, lost or stolen cards for existing members/customers at the branch level.

Everlink’s CCI solution enables financial institutions to reliably and cost-effectively produce EMV Chip debit cards from a secure central facility, offering distribution options to send the cards directly to the member/customer or to the branch.

For more information on Everlink’s contactless card issuing solutions, download our latest brochure: Contactless is More.

About First Calgary Financial – Recognized as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies, First Calgary Financial’s 500 employees are proud to be living, leading and learning in Calgary.  Being a good corporate citizen is in our DNA – it’s who we are, people helping people!  First Calgary Financial has distributed over $70 million to our members through patronage and dividends and to communities through grants and community investment initiatives since 1987.  As the home of the No Fees for MeTM free chequing account, we provide full financial services through 16 branch locations; telephone, internet and mobile banking; a Contact Centre; Independent Business Banking and Automated Teller Machines.  A Living Wage employer, First Calgary Financial is the ninth largest credit union in Canada with over $3 billion in assets and more than 70,000 members in the greater Calgary area. More information about First Calgary Financial is available at firstcalgary.com.

Everlink Payment Services Inc. is a leading provider of comprehensive, innovative and integrated payments solutions and services for credit unions, banks, and independent sales organizations across Canada. In addition to supplying best-in-breed technology infrastructure and payment network connectivity via our well established Payment Network Gateway, we offer a diversified range of integrated payments Lines of Business including: ATM Managed Services, Card Issuance & Management, Fraud Management, POS Acquiring and Professional Services.

# # #