Partnership between Paypoint and Patria Credit
PAYPOINT AND PATRIA CREDIT ANNOUNCE THE CONCLUSION OF THE PARTNERSHIP CONCERNING THE SERVICE FOR COLLECTION OF LOAN INSTALLMENTS
Bucharest, 22 September, 2010 – PayPoint Romania, the main operator dealing with cash payments and electronic collection through loan points of retail and Patria Credit IFN, the largest non-banking microfinance institution in Romania, announce the conclusion of a partnership concerning the service for collection of loan instalments.
From now on, the customers of Patria Credit IFN SA may make cash payments of the loan instalments contracted with Patria Credit by means of the PayPoint terminal network. For each contacted loan, Patria Credit provides all its customers with a free voucher or card, having a bar code containing unique identification information of the respective loan. In order to make monthly payments, the customers of the non-banking financial institution may access any of the numerous PayPoint payment points, where the seller will be responsible for scanning the bar code and for cashing money. The transaction processing is simple, secure and fast, as the payment of the loan instalment is confirmed by issuing a receipt with all the details concerning the transaction.
„By signing this contract, PayPoint varies its customer portfolio within the financial services segment. We support Patria Credit customers by means of a loan instalment payment system available in over 4800 locations at national level, in proximity stores with long working hours. Certainly, by greatly reducing the time spent for paying loan instalments, as well as by the lack of additional costs, PayPoint is a practical solution to the payment of loan instalments. Payments for financial services are perhaps most often associated with the needs for safety, reliability and transparency, which are successfully met by PayPoint”, stated Mugur Dogariu, Managing Director, PayPoint Romania.
,, The new system for the payment of the loan instalments contracted with Patria Credit is a free service provided by our institution and it meets the needs of our customers based on flexibility, modernity and efficiency. The pioneering path of Patria Credit based on the access to certain areas with no banking services or a rather weak representation of the above is a big challenge for us and we wish to continue the development of Patria Credit by seeking adequate solutions to achieve a strategic plan responding to the vital needs of the Romanian society, namely by attracting geographical and social areas yet inactivated, within the economic cycle, by facilitating the access to financial services. Patria Credit supports microfinance, this segment of the economy contributing to the development of the rural area and of the small and very small enterprises sector in Romania.”– stated Bogdan Merfea, General Manager of Patria Credit.
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About PayPoint
In Romania, PayPoint has officially launched the service for paying bills in cash under its own brand in August 2008 and has expanded its customer portfolio by signing partnerships with several companies in different sectors.
Currently, PayPoint has concluded contracts with 33 major customers in the field of telecommunications, utilities and financial services, out of which 26 are contracts for payment collection services. Thus: the utilities payment sector (GDF SUEZ Energy Romania; E.ON Gaz Distributie; E.ON Gaz Romania; Petrom Distributie Gaze; Congaz; E.ON Moldova Furnizare; Enel Energie; Enel Energie Muntenia; Electrica Furnizare Transilvania Nord; Electrica Furnizare Transilvania Sud; Electrica Furnizare Muntenia Nord; Apa Nova Bucuresti, ApaVital Iasi; Aquatim), the telecommunications and cable communications sector (Cosmote Romania, Vodafone Romania; Romtelecom; UPC Romania; Zapp; Boom TV; Akta TV) the financial and banking sector (Allianz-Tiriac Asigurari; Citibank Romania; EOS KSI Romania; GE Money; Patria Credit).
PayPoint also provides full service for charging electronic prepaid cards for all the companies in the mobile telephony industry providing this type of product (Cosmote, Orange, Vodafone and Zapp), as well as electronic charging services for fixed telephony operators with international and Internet access, including Nobel and Worldtelecom (Number One). For Focus Sat, PayPoint provides voucher issuance services by means of electronic codes for users of prepaid services such as DTH (Direct-To-Home).
Within the financial year 2009-2010 over 5.5 million payment collection transactions have been processed, this volume being almost six times higher than the one registered in the preceding year, the monthly average amounting to approximately 685,000 transactions.
About Patria Credit IFN S.A
the major shareholders of Patria Credit IFN SA's are the Romanian American Enterprise Fund (RAEF) and the Balkan Accession Fund (BAF).
Patria Credit provides loans for microenterprises in urban and rural areas and for the segment represented by agro producers in rural areas. The value of the loans granted by Patria Credit to customers in 2010, on 31 August this year, amounts to approximately 11 million Euros, implying an increase by 150% in volume and by 230% in the number of loans compared to the same period of the previous year.
On 31 August 2010 Patria Credit had a total number of customers of approximately 8600, out of which about 3800 legal entities (microenterprises) and agro producers and about 4800 individuals.
Our objective is to expand and grow and at the same time we want to keep exposures and risks within a reasonable margin. One of our priorities remains the maintenance of a good quality portfolio. Our business model requires continuous maintenance of active customers, enabling us to permanently assess our customers’ repayment capacity.
We presently have a national network comprising 35 territorial units, out of which 13 new units were opened this year (5 urban units and 8 rural units) and our development strategy involves the extension of the network to 41 branches by the end this year.
For further information, please contact:
S.C. PayPoint Services S.R.L. Patria Credit IFN S.A
Mara Popescu Camelia Raileanu
PR Specialist Marketing & PR Manager
