Net 1 UEPS Technologies, Inc. Net1 completes enrollment of one million cardholders

Net1 completes enrollment of one million cardholders in Iraq and receives additional orders.

Net1 UEPS Technologies, Inc. announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Net1 Universal Electronic Technological Solutions (Pty) Ltd (NUETS), which focuses on Africa and the Middle East, passed a key milestone in the implementation of its contract with the government of Iraq by enrolling its one millionth beneficiary earlier this month.
Net1's UEPS system was implemented in Iraq in August of 2008 and is currently used for the distribution and payment of government grants to war victims, government pension payments to beneficiaries, salary and wage distribution and payments to employees of the two state banks.
In addition, NUETS has received additional orders for 800,000 Universal Electronic Payment System (UEPS) enabled smart cards and 1,500 POS devices for deployment in Iraq. Net1 expects to deliver the newly ordered cards over the remainder of fiscal year 2010.

"These new orders will further fuel the significant progress that has been made since the introduction of the UEPS technology in Iraq in August 2008," said Brenda Stewart, Managing Director of NUETS. One million UEPS smart cards have already been issued to beneficiaries and the new orders will facilitate the issuance of cards to additional pension payment beneficiaries, war victims and the introduction of various new grants that have been contemplated by the authorities.
The deployment of an additional 1,500 POS Devices into merchant stores across Iraq will commence in February of 2010 and these devices will offer our full suite of UEPS "branchless banking" products, services and functionality. They will also assist to significantly shorten the queues that are currently being encountered during payment cycles in the branch network of the two state banks," she added.

"We are delighted with the progress of our implementation in Iraq and commend our partners on their sustained pace of expansion," said Dr. Serge Belamant, Chairman and CEO. "The growth in the number of cards issued should proportionally increase the recurring revenues we receive from Iraq. We are in the early stages of creating a broad-based electronic transaction processing platform that would allow the citizens of Iraq to not only receive benefits in a secure, cost-efficient manner, but would also create broader access to additional formal financial services," he concluded.

Net1 provides its universal electronic payment system (UEPS), as an alternative payment system for the unbanked and under-banked populations of developing economies. The company believes that it is the first company worldwide to implement a system that can enable the estimated four billion people who generally have limited or no access to a bank account to enter affordably into electronic transactions with each other, government agencies, employers, merchants and other financial service providers.
To accomplish this, Net1 has developed and deployed the UEPS. This system uses secure smart cards that operate in real-time but offline, unlike traditional payment systems offered by major banking institutions that require immediate access through a communications network to a centralized computer.
This offline capability means that users of Net1's system can enter into transactions at any time with other cardholders in even the most remote areas so long as a portable offline smart card reader is available. In addition to payments and purchases, Net1's system can be used for banking, health care management, international money transfers, voting and identification.

Net1 also focuses on the development and provision of secure transaction technology, solutions and services. Its core competencies around secure online transaction processing, cryptography and integrated circuit card (chip/smart card) technologies are principally applied to electronic commerce transactions in the telecommunications, banking, retail, petroleum and utilities market sectors.

Net1 has a primary listing on the Nasdaq and a secondary listing on the JSE Limited.