The Assembly endorsed the appointment of Jürgen Manske of Wincor Nixdorf International as Chairman of the Board of Directors and William Vanobberghen of Groupement des Cartes Bancaires as Secretary General of the organisation.

EPASOrg promotes the widespread acceptance of the EPAS protocols, a series of standards to ensure interoperability between card acceptance and acquiring solutions, integrated retail and terminal management systems.

The further deployment of common protocols is seen as major milestone in the realisation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) in Europe. Cardholders, retailers, acquirers and technology suppliers will all benefit from this important standardisation initiative.

EPASOrg will ensure that the EPAS specifications achieve full ISO 20022 endorsement for card standards, a major step in facilitating the deployment of EPAS in worldwide markets.

"EPASOrg brings together a unique combination of leading industry players who share a common desire to overcome the existing barriers to interoperability in card payments" said Alan Moss, Chairman of the General Assembly of EPASOrg.

"I am proud to chair the Board of Directors of this Organisation and I trust EPASOrg will facilitate a common understanding and implementation of the EPAS Protocols, spreading interoperability and bringing more freedom to retailers," said Jürgen Manske, Chairman of the Board of EPASOrg. "With the operational structure set up today, I am confident that we will achieve our objectives."

"As founder and coordinator of the EPAS project, Groupement des Cartes Bancaires is committed to pursuing this challenging objective of ensuring the future of the EPAS specifications through a dedicated and open structure gathering major actors of the card payment industry" said William Vanobberghen, the Secretary General of the organisation and former coordinator of the EPAS Consortium.

Participation in EPASOrg is open to any party interested or involved in the card payment industry.

EPASOrg includes the following organisations amongst its members:
Atos Worldline, Equens, Groupement des Cartes Bancaires, Hypercom, Ingenico, Pan Nordic Card Association, Quercia, The Logic Group, Wincor Nixdorf, Galitt, Ikea, Infomil, Integri, Lyra Network, Monext, PayLife Bank, Point International, POSPartner, Sermepa, SIBS