Merchant Solutions enables Asian businesses

Merchant Solutions, a joint venture between global electronic payments processor First Data and Standard Chartered, marked its first anniversary on November 19 with tens of thousands of merchants signed with Standard Chartered across nine Asian markets.

Merchant Solutions equips businesses, large and small, with point-of-sale (POS) terminals and other products and services to enable them to accept card payments.

“We are on the cusp of a real explosion in electronic payments,” said Merchant Solutions CEO and Managing Director Sean Hesh.

“Card transactions skyrocketed over the year - and our mission is to ensure that Asian businesses are equipped with the tools to accept the widest possible range of card payments.” “With our growing presence across nine markets in Asia in our first year, I’m pleased to say our message is getting through.

Coverage now extends to Bangladesh, Brunei, Hong Kong, India, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and China.”

By automating record keeping, eliminating cash handling and speeding up transactions, electronic payment facilities not only attract more business, they free merchants to focus more on selling. During the past year, Merchant Solutions has rolled out a stream of products and services to help businesses capture more card payments.

This includes the latest range of terminals from VeriFone, Spectra and Hypercom, and an Internet payment solution developed by Direct Payment Solutions (DPS) that can turn any Internet-ready computer into a POS device.

The merchant acquiring products on offer also let merchants add payment gateways to their Web sites; simplify recurring billing using a batch processing tool; and a Dynamic Currency Conversion function that enables merchants to accept foreign currency payments.

In addition, Merchant Solutions offers MICROS Payment Gateway, developed by MICROS Systems, an integrated property management system for diversified operations like hotels, which manages all customer services and on and off-line payments in one system, eliminating the hassles of separate service and payment systems.