ATLANTA, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/–Today at BAI’s Retail Delivery Conference & Expo 2002, Vital Processing Services® (Vital®), a recognized leader in technology-based commerce enabling services, announced it has teamed up with JCB International Credit Card Co., Ltd., JCB’s U.S. subsidiary, to help promote smart card usage in the United States.

Vital also announced that on October 29, 2002, it completed its first live end-to-end smart card transaction with JCB. As a result of this successful achievement, in early 2003, Vital and JCB will partner with Honolulu-based First Hawaiian Bank, a subsidiary of BancWest Corporation to launch a JCB smart card pilot project in Hawaii.

JCB is the fourth largest credit card brand in the world with over 42 million card members. JCB Cards are accepted at nearly 10 million merchants in 189 countries/territories including more than one million in North and South America. JCB has a strong presence in the Asia & Pacific region and is committed to further increasing its presence in the United States. Vital has long served as a processor of JCB credit card transactions and is now expanding its services to include processing of JCB smart card transactions.

“Our expanded relationship with JCB shows Vital’s commitment to be a leader in processing all payment forms and all payment brands, ” said Vital President and CEO, Jonathan Palmer. “The smart card market has been slow to develop in the U.S., but it is making its leap across the Pacific. We are pleased to be able to support JCB as they pave the way for smart card acceptance in the U.S.”

The launch of the JCB smart card pilot in Hawaii will use smart card terminals manufactured by Hypercom Corporation (NYSE: HYC), the global leader in smart, fast and easy-to-use card payment technology.

Atsushi Niimura, President of JCB International Credit Card Co., Ltd. and also President of Tokyo based JCB International Co., Ltd. said, “We are very much excited about this opportunity to work with Vital, First Hawaiian Bank and Hypercom. Although the U.S. market is rather slow in its smart card migration, we are proud that we can show our readiness for the chip deployment, and we welcome any opportunity to further increase JCB’s presence in the market.”

About JCB

JCB is an international credit card brand and the largest card issuer/acquirer in Japan. JCB launched its card business in Japan in 1961 and began expanding overseas in 1981. Its merchant network includes 9.28 million merchants and spans 189 countries and territories. JCB cards are now issued in 18 countries and territories, with 42 million cardmembers. As part of its international growth strategy, JCB has formed alliances with more than 320 leading banks and financial institutions globally to increase merchant coverage and cardmember base. JCB’s corporate philosophy of “Service from the heart”, a commitment to responsive, high-quality service, continues to guide it as it creates the future together with its customers, merchants and partners. For further information, please visit the JCB International homepage at http://www.jcbinternational.com.

About First Hawaiian Bank

First Hawaiian Bank (http://www.fhb.com), founded in 1858, is Hawaii’s oldest financial institution. The bank is headquartered in Honolulu and has 56 branches throughout Hawaii, three in Guam and two in Saipan. First Hawaiian is one of the main subsidiaries of Honolulu-based BancWest Corporation (http://www.bancwestcorp.com), the 25th largest U.S. bank holding company with assets of $34.3 billion and operations in seven Western states. BancWest is a wholly owned subsidiary of Paris-based BNP Paribas.

About Hypercom

Hypercom Corporation is the leading global provider of electronic payment solutions that add value at the point-of-sale for consumers, merchants and acquirers, and yield increased profitability for its customers. Hypercom’s products include secure web-enabled information and transaction terminals that work seamlessly with its networking equipment and software applications for e- commerce, m-commerce, smart cards and traditional payment applications. Hypercom’s widely-accepted ePOS-infocommerce® (epic™) framework of consumer-activated, EMV-certified, touch-screen ICE™ (Interactive Consumer Environment) information and transaction terminals enable acquirers and merchants to decrease costs, increase revenues and improve customer retention. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Hypercom maintains an installed base of more than 5 million terminals in over 100 countries, which conduct over 10 billion transactions annually. Hypercom’s web site is http://www.hypercom.com.

About Vital Processing Services

A leader in technology-based commerce enabling services, Vital Processing Services® (Vital®) is the commerce connection between acquirers and merchants, processing one out of every four authorized payment transactions in North America. From authorizing and capturing electronic payments at the merchant point of sale, to clearing and settling transactions, Vital provides highly reliable, integrated end-to-end processing services to more than 300 acquirers and over one million merchants. Vital processes all payment types for merchants of all sizes from a wide array of industries and provides merchants and acquirers with the information and tools to efficiently manage their payment processing businesses. Vital is a merchant processing joint venture of Visa U.S.A. and TSYS® (NYSE: TSS). Additional information regarding Vital can be found at http://www.vitalps.com.