02.23.05 | TRANSFIRST Introduces New Product Strategy and Plans for Upcoming Product Launches

New payment trends and customer growth lead to TRANSFIRST's roll out of company-wide product strategy and product division

DALLAS (Feb. 23, 2005) – Dallas-based TRANSFIRST, a leading provider of transaction processing services and payment enabling technologies, introduced a new company-wide strategy to deliver a highly innovative and comprehensive suite of products and services to its referral and reseller partners and merchant customers. As part of this product strategy, TRANSFIRST has created a new product division that will research, oversee and manage the company's products and services portfolio. Today's announcement also includes plans for several new product introductions.

In response to aggressive growth goals, emerging trends in payment processing products and services and the company's mission to provide a first-rate suite of products and services uniquely tailored to meet the special business needs of its customers, TRANSFIRST has expanded its product strategy focus and developed a fully-dedicated product division to introduce, manage, train and support new product opportunities. In the first phase of this expanded product focus, TRANSFIRST will unveil several new product launches in the coming weeks including a new check processing services program, pre-paid and stored-value cards, a fleet card program and an insurance eligibility program to name a few. The first product announcement will showcase TRANSFIRST's proprietary product, Transaction Central, a Web-based centralized payment-processing engine that delivers flexible, comprehensive and end-to-end processing solutions to merchants of all sizes.

"Although our core business philosophy and approach to deliver a first-rate suite of products and services and customized processing programs to the marketplace has not changed, we are continuing to expand our offerings to meet the evolving needs of our customers," said Thomas Rouse, chairman and chief executive officer of TRANSFIRST. "The launch of this product strategy and our new product division creates more opportunities to benefit from significant economies of scale within our organization, which ultimately helps us to better serve our customers in this increasingly competitive marketplace."

As part of this strategy, all of TRANSFIRST's product offerings are being reviewed for use throughout the entire TRANSFIRST family of business units. This cross-selling initiative allows the entire organization to maximize the growth and revenue potential of its more than 160,000 existing merchants. In addition, it assists in the company's ability to attract new resellers, which in turn can enhance the resellers' ability to attract new merchants to the portfolio.

"Our portfolio has been given new balance with the addition of the independent sales organization and agent channels we're now managing," said Christy Corey, president of TRANSFIRST's new product division. "A full suite of merchant enhancement products are being planned to maximize the opportunities represented by the entire TRANSFIRST family. As we're moving into new merchant markets, new products and services are required for attracting, retaining, and maximizing earnings per merchants. With this added focus, TRANSFIRST has become a more in-depth business solutions provider."

"TRANSFIRST continually makes sound business strategy decisions to further its market share and firmly plant the organization as one of the nation's premier providers of transaction processing services and payment technologies" said Barry R. Dunn of Golder Rauner, LLC (GTCR), one of the nation's leading private equity firms. "This emphasis on products and services to better serve TRANSFIRST's vast customer base will only better position the organization for increased revenue and additional growth."

Since the company was founded in 1995, TRANSFIRST's core philosophy for product development has been to select industry-leading technology providers. This philosophy will still be the driving force for this expanded product strategy. As a result, TRANSFIRST will continue to develop key strategic alliances with industry-leading technology providers to enhance TRANSFIRST's product offerings and further the company's network and sphere of influence in the payment processing industry.

About TRANSFIRST
A premier provider of transaction processing services and payment enabling technologies, TRANSFIRST offers a first-rate suite of products and services and customized processing programs uniquely tailored for the special business needs of financial institutions, independent sales organizations and agents and its referral and reseller partners. Through its in-depth industry knowledge, partnership strategy and innovative solutions, TRANSFIRST provides a specialized approach to transaction processing for health care providers, public entities, online and other non-traditional merchants, as well as brick and mortar retailers. Founded in 1995, TRANSFIRST is a market leader in strategic mergers and acquisitions, which has allowed the company to gain significant market share and world-class expertise in growing and profitable industry segments. Built on a platform of personal service, customer commitment and flexible pricing, TRANSFIRST is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has operations facilities in Louisville, Colo., Omaha, Neb., Kansas City, Kan., Newport Beach, Calif., Milwaukee, Wis. and Langhorne, Penn. TRANSFIRST was recapitalized in 2000 by GTCR Golder Rauner LLC, a leading private equity investment firm. Company wide, TRANSFIRST currently processes approximately $20 billion in annual sales volume for more than 160,000 merchants and more than 760 financial institutions. TRANSFIRST can be reached at 1-888-254-4137 or at www.TRANSFIRST.com.