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PULSE Celebrates Quarter Century of Leadership in Electronic Payments; July Marks Silver Anniversary of Pioneer ATM/Debit Network Nearing 10 Billion Transactions

Posted on: Tuesday, 25 July 2006, 15:01 CDT

Electronic payments network pioneer PULSE EFT Association LP this month marks its 25th anniversary as a leading force in the growing and evolving financial services industry.

It was a quarter century ago -- 1981 -- that seven Texas-based bank holding companies joined forces to launch a cooperative system to switch and settle transactions among multiple financial institutions originating at a new device known as an Automated Teller Machine (ATM).

Almost 10 billion transactions later, the network today continues to provide those basic services, as well as a wide variety of ancillary payment products, to more than 4,200 financial institutions across the nation. PULSE links an estimated 90 million cardholders to nearly 250,000 ATMs and approximately 3.4 million point-of-sale (POS) debit terminals at retail locations in all 50 states. In 2005, PULSE was acquired by Discover Financial Services, a business unit of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS).

Since its inception, PULSE has been recognized in the financial services industry for providing innovative, cost-effective services to financial institutions of all types and sizes. Despite all the changes that have occurred in the payments industry over the past 25 years, PULSE retains its focus on debit, and on providing the highest level of service to all network participants and cardholders. The network has further differentiated itself through proactive initiatives in education, support of the industry on important public policy issues and other value-added services.

In recent years, PULSE has expanded its product and service offerings to include a wide range of electronic payment types, including ATM and PIN debit transactions, signature debit support services, electronic benefits payments and stored value solutions. More recently, it introduced a new signature debit product, Discover(R) Debit, developed jointly with Discover.

"Throughout our history, and despite significant changes in the industry, PULSE has continued to provide high-quality, competitively priced electronic payment services to financial institutions and other network participants," said President David R. Schneider. "PULSE also has fostered competition in financial services by enabling participants to expand and differentiate their electronic payments programs, ultimately benefiting all consumers.

"PULSE has established a strong brand that is known and respected coast-to-coast by building long-standing relationships with financial institutions, processors, merchants, independent sales organizations and consumers," Schneider said. "We are very proud of this legacy."

PULSE Chairman Stan Paur credits the support of network participants for PULSE's success.

"Those leaders who founded PULSE had the vision to place the common interest above their own in establishing a shared network model," he said. "What resulted was an industry-directed company, staffed by an incredible group of people, that has proven to be of enormous value to the financial industry and consumers."

Under the long-term leadership of Paur, PULSE played a key role in providing vital information to Congress that helped defeat federal legislation that would have restricted the growth of ATM access. PULSE's industry prominence also was exemplified on the national stage in 1999 when it took the leadership role in forming a coalition of payments networks to conduct an unprecedented unified campaign to prepare for Y2K.

"One of the principles that has made PULSE so successful over the years is its commitment to regularly communicating with all network participants regarding educational opportunities, new research, innovative products and other developments within PULSE and the payments industry," said Cindy Ballard, Executive Vice President. "We continue to focus on providing the best available customer service to all network participants."

For more information on PULSE's history and operations, visit the special 25th anniversary section of the PULSE Web site at www.pulse-eft.com.

About PULSE EFT Association LP

PULSE is one of the nation's leading ATM/debit networks, currently serving more than 4,200 banks, credit unions and savings institutions across the country. PULSE is owned by Discover Financial Services LLC, a business unit of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS). The network links cardholders with nearly 250,000 ATMs and approximately 3.4 million POS terminals at retail locations nationwide. The company is also a valued resource for consumer research related to electronic payments and is committed to providing its participants with education on evolving products, services and trends in the payments industry. For more information, visit www.pulse-eft.com.

Source: Business Wire

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