Earthport PLC Earthport expands in to Bangladesh (5053X)

TIDMEPO

RNS Number : 5053X

Earthport PLC

27 November 2017

27 November 2017

Earthport Plc

("Earthport" or the "Company")

Earthport Plc expands network into Bangladesh, enabling inbound payments

Earthport (AIM: EPO), the leading payment network for cross-border transactions, announces that it has partnered with BRAC Saajan Exchange Ltd ("BRAC Saajan"), the payments arm of BRAC Bank Ltd, Bangladesh's fastest growing bank, to deliver cross-border payment services into Bangladesh.

The new partnership enables payments into Bangladesh through the Earthport payment network, which provides a more cost-effective, secure and transparent solution for managing international payments.

The partnership marks Earthport's entry into Bangladesh, a country with a population of 165 million and a burgeoning payments market. As such, it is an important milestone in Earthport's longer-term strategy to increase the number of Asian markets it services, building on recent network expansion across the continent.

Abdus Salam, MD & CEO, BRAC Saajan Exchange Ltd, said: "BRAC Saajan always focuses on increasing the reliability and transparency of inward remittances and payments, which play a vital role in the GDP of the country. The partnership with Earthport allows us to serve all Bangladeshi clients and to play a key role in serving the regional payments infrastructure.

"We believe our large, secure distribution network and nativity to the Bangladeshi community complements Earthport's renowned global payment network and greatly supports the wider needs of Bangladeshis everywhere."

Hank Uberoi, CEO of Earthport, commented: "Earthport's strategic partnership with BRAC Saajan Exchange enables us to deliver increased efficiencies, reliability and transparency to cross-border payments into Bangladesh. We are now well positioned to further support the sustained growth in inbound global payment transactions the region is experiencing and to benefit from the opportunities this presents."

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For further information, please contact:

Earthport Plc 020 7220 9700

Hank Uberoi, Chief Executive Officer

Simon Adamiyatt, Chief Financial Officer

Newgate 020 7653 9848

Bob Huxford/James Ash

N+1 Singer (Joint Broker) 020 7496 3000

Mark Taylor/James White

Shore Capital (Joint Broker) 020 7408 4090

Toby Gibbs/Stephane Auton

About Earthport

Earthport provides cross-border payment services to banks and businesses. Through a single relationship with Earthport, clients can seamlessly manage payments to almost any bank account in the world, reducing complexity to meet their customers' evolving expectations of cost, speed and transparency.

Earthport offers clients access to global payment capability in 200+ countries and territories, with local ACH options in 65+ countries, and an evolving suite of currencies and settlement options.

Earthport continues to invest in the establishment of in-country bank partnerships across the world, bringing together its deep market and regulatory expertise in order to maintain compliant and commercially competitive services.

The result - a trusted global payments network accessed via a single relationship, delivering significant cost and operating efficiencies for banks and businesses servicing high volumes of lower value payments.

Headquartered in London with regional offices in New York, Dubai, Miami and Singapore, Earthport is a public company, traded on the London Stock Exchange (AIM: EPO) with an institutional investor base including World Bank IFC, Oppenheimer, Blackrock, Henderson.

Please visit www.earthport.com for more information.

About BRAC Saajan Exchange Ltd

BRAC Saajan Exchange Ltd (BRAC Saajan) started its journey as a small money transfer agent in 2003 as "Saajan Worldwide Money Transfer", concentrating on remittances from UK to Bangladesh. Soon it started to operate under its own arrangement with BRAC Bank Limited. Having arrangements with number of Bangladeshi Banks, in 2008 the sole trading business got its legal entity as "Saajan Worldwide Money Transfer Limited". Considering the expansion plan of the Company, BRAC Bank Limited of Bangladesh acquired more than 75% shares of the Company in January 2011, and renamed the Company as "BRAC Saajan Exchange Ltd".

BRAC Saajan pioneered the feature of Direct Credit that allows to credit the remittance in to the beneficiary's bank account within minutes. Beside BRAC Bank, currently this facility is available with two other major banks in Bangladesh, and integration is underway with other Banks. Apart from the Direct Credit facility, BRAC Saajan can also payout to any beneficiary to their bank accounts in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Poland and Ecuador.

BRAC Saajan is currently concentrating its investment in resources to enhance its services. In most cases the Company offers its services through its direct Agents located in UK, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Ireland. It also offers services to number of Corporate Clients.

Having its registered office located at Birmingham, the Company has regional offices at France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Bangladesh.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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November 27, 2017 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)