Retailers Invited to Join Contactless Payments Webinar Hosted by the Smart Card Alliance and STORES Magazine

Princeton Junction, NJ, February 7, 2006 – Executives from the retail and payments industries are invited to join a free webinar, Contactless Payments: A New Era of Payments for Retailers, hosted by the Smart Card Alliance Contactless Payments Council in partnership with the National Retail Federation STORES magazine. The webinar will feature guest speakers from KeyBank, Chase Paymentech Solutions and Wawa to discuss their first-hand experience with the benefits of contactless payments.

The webinar will be held on February 22nd at 12:00pm Eastern Time. Attendees can pre-register for the 60-minute presentation and discussion by visiting the STORES website at www.stores.org/knowledge022206.

“Retailers see tremendous promise in offering consumers a fast and convenient way to pay. We’re delighted to bring them an opportunity to hear from their peers why contactless payment technology is good for business,” said T.J. Sharkey, vice president of business development for MasterCard International, the gold sponsor of the event.

Millions of U.S. consumers are already paying at the retail point-of-sale (POS) using contactless payment cards and devices, with millions more expected this year as new contactless payment initiatives continue to roll-out. Leading banks are issuing millions of contactless credit and debit cards and devices to consumers, and leading retailers are installing contactless readers that can accept contactless payment and are integrated with POS systems.

“A contactless payments revolution is spreading across the country. This webinar will provide retailers with a detailed review of this move to contactless payments and provide guidance on how they can join the revolution and take advantage of the many benefits the technology brings to the retail environment,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Alliance.

Key questions answered in the webinar include:

• Who is leading the way in issuing and accepting contactless payments?
• Why are consumers changing the way they pay to move to contactless payments?
• What are the retailer benefits of accepting contactless payments?
• What do retailers need to do to update their POS systems to accept contactless payments?

The webinar will be moderated by STORES magazine publisher Rick Gallagher. The panel of industry experts who will present includes Vanderhoof; Carl Stauffeneger, senior vice president, KeyBank; Bob Riesenbach, manager of new initiatives, Wawa, and George Wilcox, group executive, retail product management, Chase Paymentech. This initial program, developed by the Contactless Payments Council to educate merchants, card issuers and processors about important trends in the payments marketplace, is sponsored by MasterCard International, Visa USA and ViVOtech, Inc.

For more information about the Smart Card Alliance and other valuable resources produced by the Contactless Payments Council, please visit www.smartcardalliance.org.
About the Contactless Payments Council The Smart Card Alliance Contactless Payments Council was formed to focus on facilitating the adoption of contactless payments in the U.S. through education programs for consumers, merchants and issuers. The group is bringing together financial payments industry leaders and suppliers and will be reaching out to involve the merchant community. The Council’s primary goal is to inform and educate the market about the value of contactless payment and work to address misconceptions about the capabilities and security of contactless technology.

About the Smart Card Alliance The Smart Card Alliance is a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to accelerate the acceptance of smart card technology.

Through specific projects such as education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and open forums, the Alliance keeps its members connected to industry leaders and innovative thought. The Alliance is the single industry voice for smart cards, leading industry discussion on the impact and value of smart cards in the U.S. and Latin America. For more information please visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org.