PayPoint, the UK’s leading cash and internet payments company has joined forces with RBS and PayPal to enable customers to top-up their new PayPal prepaid Visa card at over 19,800 PayPoint outlets across the UK. Over 20 million UK PayPal accounts will be offered the new card from August 2008.

Consumers will be able to apply for the PayPal Top Up Card issued by RBS online at www.paypal.co.uk/topupcard.  The card can then be loaded at PayPoint outlets with a minimum of £5 and has an annual limit of £5,000.  The card is available to both PayPal and non-PayPal account holders, providing an easy and secure way to shop online, in the high street and abroad with retailers benefitting from the additional traffic the cards will bring.

Ruaraidh MacLean, Prepaid Cards Commercial Manager at RBS commented: “RBS is always looking for ways to offer convenient, innovative services and a superior customer experience to UK consumers. We want to ensure that the 20 million PayPal account holders have an easy-to-use and convenient network to load cash to their new PayPal prepaid Visa card and PayPoint was the obvious choice for us. We are delighted to be on board with PayPoint.”

Mike Igoe, PayPoint’s Retail Director commented:  “Consumers recognise PayPal for its credibility and security, so we are pleased to be partnering with RBS and PayPal to further extend the wide range of prepaid cards which can be topped up at PayPoint. It’s important to offer retailers new services which are relevant to their business and customer base as the e-money sector is forecast to grow significantly.”

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Enquiries:
PayPoint Press Office 
020 7100 9999
paypoint@mischiefpr.com

Notes to Editors
PayPoint is the leading cash and internet payments company in the UK also with operations in Ireland and Romania. We handle in excess of £7 billion from over 503 million transactions annually for more than 5,000 clients and merchants. The company operates with several payment networks:

• The PayPoint branded retail network numbers over 19,800 terminals located in local shops (including Co-op, Spar, Costcutter, Sainsburys Local, One Stop, Londis and thousands of independents) in all parts of the UK and Ireland. Terminals handle gas and electricity meter prepayments, cash bill payments, mobile phone top-ups, transport tickets, London Congestion Charges, TV licences and a wide variety of other payment types for all of the leading utilities, telecommunications suppliers and many consumer service companies. This network is used by consumers, free of charge, over 8 million times a week. The network has 99% population cover on a 1 mile urban or 5 miles rural measure;
• Multiple retailer connections into the electronic till systems of over 4,300 outlets in addition to the branded terminal outlets including BP, Somerfield and Superdrug for mobile top-ups and selected payments from the PayPoint range;
• An ATM network which has 2,016 ‘LINK’ branded machines across the UK, also typically in convenience stores; 
• PayPoint.net, an internet payment service provider, provides secure credit and debit card payments for over 4,800 web merchants linking into all the major UK acquiring banks; and
• Pay Store, a Romanian mobile top-up operator with over 4,000 outlets equipped with electronic terminals and 2,000 other retail outlets. A bill payment service has been added to increase the breadth of PayPoint’s offering in Romania, in line with the UK branded retail network.
  

PayPoint floated on the London Stock Exchange in September 2004 and the company’s market capitalisation at 4 August 2008 was £447 million. PayPoint is widely recognised for its leadership in prepayment systems, smart technology and consumer service.