Tokyo,November 16,2006 - JCB,a major global payment brand,today announced that its international operations subsidiary,JCB International,signed an agreement with Europay Austria,a major payment solutions provider in Austria,to expand JCB's acceptance network in Central and Eastern Europe. In mid-2007,Europay Austria will phase in acquiring JCB merchants and processing sales transactions,and will complete opening its network of 94,000 merchants in Austria by the end of December 2007. The agreement also includes Europay Austria's merchant network of Central and Eastern Europe.

The number of Japanese tourists visiting this area is increasing dramatically. According to national tourism offices,more than 270,000 Japanese travelers visited Austria in 2005 (up 8.6% from the previous year),more than 150,000 Japanese travelers to the Czech Republic (up 26.5% from the previous year) and more than 98,000 to the city of Budapest in Hungary (up 28.8% from the previous year). In this regard,JCB,which has 57.70 million cardmembers mainly in Japan and other Asian countries,considers Central and Eastern Europe one of the most important target markets,especially in terms of card acceptance.

"Currently,JCB is acquiring merchants on its own here in Austria," said Mr. Thomas Heigl,General Manager of JCB International (Austria) GmbH. "But as the numbers of travelers from abroad is expanding and their purposes and needs for traveling are changing,I believe that the licensee arrangement with Europay Austria,which has a solid merchant and cardmember base here,will greatly increase our cardmembers' level of convenience in the region."

Europay Austria is equally convinced that the agreement with JCB will be a successful one. Dr. Ewald Judt,Managing Director of Europay Austria,said,"Having found a strong business partner like JCB,we are delighted that our range will now incorporate an expanding global brand in the card sector. By working together,both of us will be able to take the next big step in their corporate development here".

Europay Austria
Europay Austria is THE focal point linking customers,traders and banks when it comes to modern payment methods. On behalf of the Austrian banks,Europay Austria develops payment cards like the multi-functional Maestro ATM card,Quick (the electronic purse) and a multitude of different MasterCards. Europay Austria today supports more than 93,000 participating outlets. Thanks to Europay Austria's successful focus on the market and the customer,the payment volume increased by more than 13% in 2005.