Cielo and Planet Payment to Launch Multi-Currency Solutions in Brazil

LONG BEACH, N.Y. and BARUERI, Brazil, Nov. 26, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cielo, Latin America's leader in electronic payments solutions, and Planet Payment, Inc. PPT PPTR PLPM, a leading international and multi-currency payment processor, today announced an initiative to deliver Planet Payment's Pay in Your Currency® and Shop in Your Currency™ services to Cielo's portfolio of merchants in Brazil.

The solution can offer significant value-added benefits to Cielo's merchants and their customers, especially tourists expected to visit Brazil during the two major global events – the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. With the new tool, which will be available for 1.3 million Cielo merchants next year in Brazil, international customers are offered the convenience of paying in their home currency at the point-of-sale.

"Cielo has maintained its position as the top merchant services provider in Latin America by listening to the needs of its clients and driving innovative products that allow merchants to conduct and grow their businesses more efficiently," said Eduardo Chedid, Products and Business Vice-President at Cielo. "With more international visitors choosing Brazil as their destination for leisure or business travel, this feature is a natural fit for our merchants and an important addition to our product offering."  

The customers are handed a receipt, or pointed to an electronic terminal which show the transaction amounts in Real and their home currency, together with the daily exchange rate and other service details. The customer then makes their currency choice on the receipt or device. International travelers can enjoy a more comfortable shopping experience by knowing what they are paying in their home currency, while simultaneously providing the merchants affiliated to Cielo with an opportunity to increase their product range and thus increase their sales.

"We are very excited about our entry into the Brazilian market and are delighted to have been selected by Cielo to deliver our innovative products and services to their customers," said Philip Beck, Chairman and CEO of Planet Payment.

Brazil has seen steadily increasing levels of inbound international travel, with this upward trend expected to continue in the future. According to statistics released by The Brazilian Ministry of Tourism, a total of 5.4 million international visitors traveled to Brazil in 2011 -- an increase of over 5% over 2010 visitor levels. 

Online Sales

Cielo and Planet Payment will also be launching Shop in Your Currency which enables Brazilian e-commerce merchants to more effectively target foreign markets and close more sales from international customers. This solution allows merchants to localize their offering and simplify the shopping experience for international customers who can now view pricing and pay in their home currencies, while the merchant receives settlement in Real as they do today.

"We believe that our solutions will provide Cielo merchants with the tools to enhance customer service and improve profitability while improving the shopping experience for international customers," said Drew Soinski, SVP and Managing Director of the Americas for Planet Payment.

About Cielo

Cielo SA CIEL CIOXY is the Latin America's leader in electronic payment solutions. It is responsible for acquiring merchants and for the capture, transmission, processing and settlement of transactions made with credit cards and debit cards in Brazil. Through thousands of simultaneous and reliable operations, Cielo connects banks, card companies and merchants to power businesses and boost the economy.

The high technology applied in Cielo's network allows the company to operate with an availability rate of 99.995% over the year and 100% availability in major retail dates. With more than 1.3 million active establishments (considered those that had transactions effected at the terminals of Cielo in the last 60 days), Cielo covers 99% of Brazilian territory.

For the last twelve months ended March 31st, 2012, Cielo's transactional financial volume under the accounting criterion totaled R$ 337.7 billion. It captured 4.8 billion transactions in the same period.

About Planet Payment

Planet Payment is a leading provider of international payment processing and multi-currency processing services. We provide our services in 18 countries and territories across the Asia Pacific region, North America, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, primarily through our more than 45 acquiring bank and processor customers. Our point-of-sale and e-commerce services help merchants sell more goods and services to consumers, and are integrated within the payment card transaction flow enabling our acquiring customers to process and reconcile payment transactions in multiple currencies, geographies and channels.

Planet Payment is headquartered in New York and has offices in Atlanta, Beijing, Bermuda, Delaware, Dubai, Dublin, London, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Shanghai and Singapore. Visit www.planetpayment.com for more information on the Company and its services. For up-to-date information follow Planet Payment on Twitter at @PlanetPayment or join Planet Payment's page on Facebook.

Forward-Looking Statements. Information contained in this announcement may include 'forward-looking statements'. All statements other than statements of historical facts included herein, including, without limitation, those regarding an intended definitive agreement and future service launches with Cielo, and whether such events occur and the timing thereof, are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions regarding Planet Payment's present and future business strategies and the environment in which Planet Payment expects to operate in future, which assumptions may or may not be fulfilled in practice. Actual results may vary materially from the results anticipated by these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of risk factors, including, regulatory changes and changes in card association regulations and practices, changes in domestic and global economic conditions and changes in volume of international travel and commerce, customer and merchant adoption of Planet Payment's services and the risks related to international expansion and international business uncertainties. See the Company's filed Registration Statement on Form 10 for other risk factors which investors should consider. These forward-looking statements speak only as to the date of this announcement and cannot be relied upon as a guide to future performance. Planet Payment expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained in this announcement to reflect any changes in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.