Halifax / Bank of Scotland and Sainsbury’s Finance Join Mobile Phone Top-Up Service

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July 2, 2008

LONDON, July 2 /PRNewswire/ — VocaLink, the transaction specialist, has announced that Halifax / Bankof Scotland (HBOS) and Sainsbury’s Finance have joined its cash machinepre-pay mobile phone top-up service available through most link cashmachines. Qualifying Halifax and Bank of Scotland bank account cardholders can nowuse the mobile phone top-up service, not only at their own machines but atthe cash machines of all participating link members (please see below for afull list of participating link Members). Sainsbury’s will offer the service to cardholders of participating banksand building societies at Sainsbury’s Finance cash machines, making for awelcome service addition for the over 16 million customers passing throughSainsbury’s stores each week. The 2,200 Halifax, 690 Bank of Scotland and 1,040 Sainsbury’s Bank cashmachines are a valuable addition to the service, bringing the total number ofcash machines offering mobile phone top-ups to nearly 50,000. Martin Kearsley, Director of Strategy at VocaLink, commented, “HBOS andSainsbury’s joining this service is great news for consumers. Cash machinesare the quickest, easiest and most convenient way to top-up pre-pay mobilephones. There is no requirement to pre-register, the service is free and itis available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As a result, it is becomingever more popular with around 1.3 million top-ups made through cash machinesevery month.” Gill Sephton, Head of Halifax and Bank of Scotland ATM Channel,commented, “We are delighted to be offering mobile phone top-ups at our ATMs.This is a great service for users of pre-pay mobile phones, and complementsthe existing range of services available at Halifax and Bank of ScotlandATMs.” About mobile phone top-up facilities There are now 49,500 cash machines offering the mobile phone top-upfacility and around 1.3 million mobile phone top-ups are made at cashmachines per month. No registration is necessary and this service isfree-of-charge at all cash machines that offer the mobile phone top-upfacility, including those which normally charge for cash withdrawals. The mobile phone top-up facility at cash machines enables customers tobuy pay-as-you-go credit within a few seconds. A user simply inserts theircard and enters their card PIN in the usual way, selects mobile phone top-upon the screen, enters their phone number, and then chooses how much credit toload. Participating Mobile Phone top-up members Barclays First Trust Bank NatWest Cardpoint Halifax Note Machine Calypso Hanco Royal Bank of Scotland Clydesdale Bank HSBC Sainsbury’s Finance Cooperative Bank Lloyds TSB Tesco Coventry Building Nationwide Building Yorkshire Bank Society Society About LINK The link Scheme connects almost every cash machine in the UK, free-to-useand pay-to-use. The link network is the busiest ATM transaction switch in theworld. The link Scheme brings together the banks, building societies andother institutions that issue cards and the operators of the more than 64,000UK cash machines that make up the link network. The link Scheme has 47 members and there are more than 130 million LINKcards in circulation from around 38 card issuers. http://www.link.co.uk About VocaLink VocaLink is a specialist provider of transaction services to banks, theircorporate customers and Government departments. It processes domestic andinternational automated payments and provides ATM switching solutions. On apeak day, the VocaLink automated payment platform processes over 90 milliontransactions and over half a billion in a month. Its switching platformconnects the world’s busiest ATM network of over 60,000 ATMs. Its Real-TimePayments platform provides the central infrastructure for the UK FasterPayments service. It is working with BGC to provide outsourced processing forthe majority of Sweden’s domestic payments. Having pioneered electronic payments for over four decades, many of theworld’s top banks and their corporate customers rely on VocaLink to meettheir transaction needs. Its processing services offer banks reach throughoutthe Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and beyond; and are complemented byvalue-added services that leverage industry expertise and technicalcapabilities. Please visit http://www.vocalink.com for more information. Media enquiries For more information please contact Victoria McGovern or Sophie Watts.Tel: 44(0)1865-343-100, Email: LINK@thejjgroup.com / vocalink@thejjgroup.comLINK and VocaLink

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