Cairo, Egypt - Amman, Jordan, January 10, 2013

Emerging Markets Payments (EMP), Africa and the Middle East's leading electronic payment processing company, recently announced that its Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) compliance certification has been renewed. This is EMP's fifth consecutive year, which affirms the company's dedication to offering secure smart card processing solutions in line with international standards. The certification was granted to EMP by Trustwave, an accredited assessment body authorized by the PCI Security Standards Council. The council is an open global forum, launched in 2006, and is responsible for the development, management, education, and awareness of the PCI Security Standards.

"We are thrilled to receive our certificate for the fifth time from the PCI Security Standards Council," said Hoda Shoukry, CEO, Bank Processing and MD, EMP Africa. "EMP strives to come up with and apply innovative electronic payment solutions while maintaining high level operational standards. This fifth certification is a testament to our strict adherence to international security standards."

The company was first certified in 2008 and through its membership of the PCI organization EMP adheres to the latest payment card security standards of the Council. In an era of increasingly sophisticated attacks on systems, adhering to the PCI DSS represents an organisation's best protection against data criminals. EMP is committed to applying the PCI DSS standards in order to further develop its business practices.

"At EMP we are focused on protecting the data of our clients and to further developing our systems to ensure that we offer clients state-of-the-art solutions" said Hassan Mayassi, EMP's CEO, Merchant Acquiring and MD, EMP Jordan. "In the past few years EMP has seen major expansion across Africa and the Middle East and the international validation of our secure processing network not only fosters our credibility, but also helps us grow further to provide the most efficient, secure, and accurate smart card processing services throughout the region."

As part of its expansion plans across Africa and the Middle East, EMP recently upgraded its office in Lagos, Nigeria into a fully-fledged Regional Office to better serve its 50 client banks across West Africa. EMP has also invested in a local processing center and payments hub in Lagos in order to better handle the fast growth in electronic payments traffic in the region.

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About Emerging Markets Payments (EMP):
Emerging Markets Payments (EMP) is the leading electronic payments processing company in the Middle East and Africa (MEA). Offering world-class services to banks, retailers, governments and consumer finance institutions, EMP delivers the most sophisticated financial processing solutions to its clients. EMP is currently partner to over 130 banks, 30,000 retailers across 45 countries in MEA. With offices located in Cairo, Egypt; Amman, Jordan; Lagos, Nigeria and Cape Town, Johannesburg, South Africa, EMP is spearheading the regional development and innovation of the electronic payments industry. For more information, please visit:www.emp-group.com.

© Press Release 2013