By opening an office in Moscow, Global Payments will be able to offer and provide a full range of processing services more effectively to Russian and other international financial institutions. Global Payments currently provides credit card issuing services to one of the largest providers of consumer credit in the Russian Federation, Home Credit and Finance Bank.

Stanislav Coufal will head up the new Russian operations. Coufal joined MUZO in 2004 as an Area Manager for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Coufal is familiar with the Russian financial environment, having served for three years as a Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Czech-Russian Bank in Moscow.

According to Coufal, "The growth potential of the Russian financial market is substantial, and I am excited that we are part of that opportunity. Establishing a physical presence in the Russian market is an absolute necessity for the expansion of our client portfolio and will provide us with a significant competitive advantage."

CEO and Chairman for MUZO, Petr Sedlacek, said, "We are very optimistic regarding our entry into the promising Russian market, where we can leverage our experience and expertise. Russia may become a significant market for MUZO."

Based in Prague, MUZO serves financial institutions with a comprehensive package of payment services including credit and debit card transaction processing, installation and servicing of ATM and POS terminals, as well as card issuing services such as card database management and card personalization. MUZO's proprietary platform is among the first in the European market to be compliant with the international EMV standards for chip- based payment cards.