Emerchants signs five year agreement with Qld Government

Emerchants Limited (emerchants) (ASX:EML) is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Emerchants Payment Solutions Limited, has signed five year agreement with the State of Queensland through the Department of Treasury and Trade (Queensland Treasury Department) to become a preferred supplier of prepaid card solutions.

The agreement includes the option of two consecutive two year contracts which could take it to nine years.

The Queensland Treasury Department has appointed preferred suppliers for prepaid cards, such as emerchants, whose solutions will allow all of its various departments and agencies to benefit from the cost savings, fraud control, and risk control advantages prepaid brings over traditional funds disbursement mechanisms such as credit cards, cash and cheques.

With emerchants’ extensive background in comprehensive prepaid program management driven by its proprietary platform, SAM, the processing capabilities and strong focus on risk and compliance provide the Queensland Government the capability to tailor solutions that offer more control and flexibility in managing its varied payment processes.

In commenting on the agreement, Tom Cregan, Managing Director of emerchants, said: “emerchants’ primary focus is on tailoring prepaid programs to meet each customer’s needs, simplifying the administration of payments, whilst providing greater control through our innovative approach to prepaid cards. We believe that the approach taken by the Queensland Treasury Department is the right one. Our focus with each agency is on identifying the opportunity and consequently designing a solution that delivers savings whilst maximising the benefits that flow on to taxpayers.”

emerchants has partnered with Visa to create marketing and training materials to support the launch of the prepaid card programs.

The partnership reinforces Visa’s commitment to emerchants and its long term growth strategy. emerchants is looking forward to leveraging the experience that Visa has in other international government programs.

emerchants is one of Australia’s leading providers of innovative prepaid payment solutions and its unique position in the market as an end to end prepaid provider has led to this five year agreement.

The Company’s consultative approach allows the Queensland Treasury Department to tailor each payment process to gain administrative efficiencies, provide a better experience to the Queensland public, and have the oversight and controls to minimise the risk of fraud and misuse of public funds.

The first emerchants prepaid program to be rolled out will be the Disaster Recovery Card for the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disabilities Services.

This will allow the Department’s Community Recovery unit to quickly and efficiently distribute assistance grants during a declared disaster.

In commenting on the Disaster Recovery Card, Mr Cregan said: “The Queensland Government has identified the need to have a scalable solution that can be rolled out at a moment’s notice to support the Queensland public during the time of their greatest need. A solution has been developed that allows the efficient processing and distribution of grants, whilst minimising the risk of fraud through segregated administrative responsibilities and with a strong focus on control and oversight.”

emerchants’ Business Development Team will work with the Queensland Government to agree timeframes for the communication to other agencies and Government departments, to arrange meetings with select Government agencies, and organise seminars for Government managers as the first stage of the engagement roll out plan.

In further commenting on the agreement, Mr Cregan said: “Whether it is Community support, public funds disbursement or the improvement of petty cash and general expense management, we look forward to applying our expertise and capabilities to work with the various Queensland Government agencies and departments to develop prepaid solutions that provide the right mix of efficiency, transparency, and control.”

ABOUT EMERCHANTS

emerchants is a payments solutions provider of prepaid financial card products and services in Australia. By using their proprietary Secure Account Management (SAM) system, the Company provides its clients with innovative financial service payment solutions for reloadable and non-reloadable prepaid card programs.

emerchants are able to adapt to meet the expense management and funds disbursement needs of any organisation. Their corporate expense, petty cash, per diem, social payments and staff rewards programs are easy to implement and reduce administration burden and costs. emerchants is focused on the twin goal of delivering high quality payment systems to its customers and superior returns to its shareholders.

For more information please visit: www.emerchants.com.au

ends