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October 30, 2006

LEVEL FOUR GROWS BUSINESS WITH GIRO BANKCARD IN HUNGARY

GBC extends license with Level Four to support growth of shared ATM network across the country

London, UK, 30th October 2006 – Giro Bankcard Ltd (GBC), the largest independent processor in Hungary, has signed a new contract with Level Four Software, the leading provider of open standards-based ATM testing and development software, extending its license of Level Four’s ATM Developer. Since GBC first began working with Level Four in 2004, it has grown the number of ATMs under management from 750 to 1,100 and now supports the ATM networks of six banks across Hungary.

GBC uses Level Four’s ATM Developer to conduct testing and to roll out updates across the ATM network according to each bank’s specific requirements. The extensive reporting tools incorporated within ATM Developer ensure that GBC can keep its clients continually updated on the status of testing and development, for example, allowing actual ATM transactions to be recorded and replayed as a real-time animated show for clients to review and approve. This dramatically speeds up approval and implementation times, and helps to ensure the highest levels of customer service.

Historically, GBC found the volume of testing required to implement or upgrade new services across multiple vendors’ ATMs both costly and time consuming. Today, ATM Developer allows GBC to manage and test all ATM devices centrally - including hardware from NCR, Diebold, Wincor-Nixdorf and Bull/Olivetti. Fully automating the testing process across all devices means staff no longer have to manually test 90% of transactions on real ATMs, resulting in dramatic cost reductions and reduced exposure to risk.

GBC has also been using ATM Developer to test the roll-out of the EMV chip card standard which is being introduced to ATMs throughout most of the world to help cut card fraud. The software allows GBC to test and analyse the full range of EMV cards and transactions without the inconvenience and expense of using real EMV cards.


Dr. György Timár, CEO, Giro Bankcard Ltd, comments: “Level Four has acted as a true business partner to us over the last two years and has been instrumental in helping us to grow our business. ATM Developer has helped us to expand the number of ATMs we support without increasing our cost base and while also continuing to deliver excellent customer service.”

Nigel Walsh, CEO, Level Four comments, “GBC is a great example of how our ATM Developer product can be used to automate the management, testing and updating of an increasingly complex multi-vendor ATM environment. With banks across Hungary also looking to provide a more personalised ATM experience for their customers, GBC needs the ability to roll out updates regularly and cost effectively.”

About Giro Bankcard cPlc

Giro Bankcard cPlc (GBC) is Hungary’s leading provider of outsourced ATM/POS acquiring and card issuing services for financial institutions. GBC operates 1100 ATMs in Hungary. GBC also provides international card scheme authorisation for Amex, Visa and Mastercard; ATM transaction switching; card issuer services and "stand in" EFT payment authorisation facilities. Under the supervision of the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority, GBC operates - in co-operation with the National Bank of Hungary - the only domestic system for inter-bank clearing and settlement of card transactions for domestic banks. In 2005, due to the high availability level of services, 62 Million transactions were processed without a single standstill of the Tandem/Himalaya system.

Visit Giro Bankcard at www.gbc.hu

About Level Four
Level Four’s development and testing products have been built to address the needs of ATM deployers seeking to maximize their investment in the ATM channel.

BRIDGE:test is targeted at banks and ATM deployers who are running, or seeking to run, a modern ATM network based on the industry-wide CEN/XFS open standard.  BRIDGE:test provides an enterprise regression test platform to test CEN/XFS based applications in a controlled environment. Customers gain benefits of the breadth of testing and improved quality assurance as well as reduced time to market due to increased testing efficiencies.

ATM Developer is targeted at banks and ATM deployers who are running states & screens protocol controlled applications such as those based on NDC or 912. ATM Developer provide a graphical environment in which customers can maintain the configuration file from creation to validation.

Since 1995, Level Four has built an impressive global customer base of banks and payments processors including, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB, Bank of America, CIBC, VocaLink and Standard Bank of South Africa. Headquartered in Dunfermline, Scotland, Level Four has offices in Dubai and Charlotte, NC, USA. http://www.levelfour.com  

Level Four’s online ATM industry resource: www.atmindustryinfo.com 

For more information, please contact:
Nicola Koronka
Hotwire
+44 (0) 20 7608 4673
levelfour 'at' hotwirepr.com