Expansion of Home Cheque Cashing Service

 

TIDMHIG 
 
 
Hertford International Group PLC 
19 May 2009 
 
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 19th May 2009 
Hertford International Group PLC 
 
 
PROVIDENT FINANCIAL PLC EXPANDS HOME CHEQUE CASHING SERVICE WITH 
HERTFORD INTERNATIONAL GROUP PLC 
 
 
 
 
Hertford International Group (AIM: HIG), a provider of personal financial 
products and services, announces the expansion of the home cheque cashing 
service being trialled in partnership with Provident Financial plc. The 
operational systems supporting this service are provided by Cheque Exchange 
Limited, the cheque cashing business acquired from Provident by Hertford in 
January, earlier this year. 
 
This trial, which began in February 2009, is part of an initiative to realise 
the potential for residential cheque cashing as compared to the traditional 
in-store service.  Provident Financial's agents already offer a variety of 
personal financial products on a door-to-door basis, and now an increased number 
of these agents will be able to provide customers with the opportunity to cash 
their third-party cheques in the comfort of their own home. 
 
The original pilot involved just two hundred agents offering the home cheque 
cashing product from within three of Provident's forty regions. The trial to 
date has progressed well, and on the 18th of May the service is being expanded 
to around 800 agents through the three regions. This expansion will be delivered 
by seventeen area managers and their branches. 
 
Commenting, Lewis Findlay, Hertford Chief Executive, said: "This home cheque 
cashing initiative presents a very significant opportunity for Hertford, in 
partnership with Provident, to significantly increase our market share, as we 
hope to eventually offer cheque cashing facilities to the doorsteps of 1.7 
million homes through Provident's agent network." 
Commenting, Michael Palmer, Provident Director Home Credit, said: "Provident had 
for some time planned to expand its product offering to include the cashing of 
third-party cheques to our home credit clients, and whilst this project is still 
officially within the trialling stage, the results to date have provided 
the confidence for us to now extend the reach of this service by a factor of 
four." 
 
-ends- 
 
 
For further information please visit www.hertfordinternationalgroup.com or 
contact: 
Hertford International Group Plc 
Paul Marks - Non-Executive Chairman    Tel: 
[phone] 
Lewis Findlay - Chief Executive 
Arbuthnot Securities 
Katie Shelton 
Tel: [phone] 
Nick Tulloch 
Tavistock CommunicationsTel: [phone] 
Matt Ridsdale 
Simon 
Compton 
Notes to Editors: 
Hertford was admitted to the AIM market in December 2007 with a strategy to 
provide financial services to primarily those people who are not able to access 
a traditional bank account (the "unbanked"). 
Hertford owns 100 per cent. of CrewCard Network ("CCN"), a marketer of prepaid 
debit card programmes targeted at a number of high growth niche markets, 
including those people without a bank account. 
CCN's business model is to develop several complementary brands, develop its own 
distribution network, and build an ongoing relationship with its card users, 
which will enable it to sell additional products and services. 
As part of this strategy, Hertford completed the acquisition of Cheque Exchange 
Ltd ("CEL") from Provident Financial Plc in January 2009. CEL is the super agent 
for MoneyGram and is a profitable cheque cashing and money remittance business. 
This acquisition provided Hertford with an established operational 
infrastructure, a sales force, and positive cash-flow on which to grow the 
business and fulfil the vision of Hertford. 
 
This information is provided by RNS 
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange 
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