JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA--(Marketwired - March 10, 2016) - Net 1 UEPS Technologies, Inc. ("Net1" or the "Company") (
This one million EPE accounts milestone demonstrates the sustained adoption of its EPE product, as the Company last reported 830,000 EPE accounts at the end of January 2016. EPE is a fully transactional account created to serve the needs of South Africa's un-banked and under-banked citizens, and is available to all consumers regardless of their financial or social status. The EPE account drives financial inclusion by providing a comprehensive suite of financial and value added services such as prepaid products, in a cost-effective, convenient and secure manner. EPE provides account holders with a UEPS-EMV debit MasterCard, mobile and internet banking services, ATM and POS services, as well as micro-finance, insurance, financial products and value-added services. EPE accounts attract no monthly account fees and account holders are only charged pay-per-use fees whenever the account is used to transact.
"We are delighted to have crossed this important milestone," said Mr. Serge Belamant, Chairman and CEO of Net1. "I am also pleased that the expansion of our insurance offering is gaining momentum, performing well ahead of its intended business plan and has already issued around 57,000 new policies. The on-going adoption of these new financial services by our customers further diversifies our existing portfolio and reinforces our strategy to provide affordable financial products and value-added services to all South Africans." he concluded.
During February 2016, Net1 acquired 1.3 million shares of its common stock for approximately $12.7 million, and since November 2015, has repurchased approximately 2.1 million shares for $23.9 million.
About Net1 (www.net1.com)
Net1 is a leading provider of alternative payment systems that leverage its Universal Electronic Payment System ("UEPS") or utilize its proprietary mobile technologies. The Company operates market-leading payment processors in South Africa and the Republic of Korea. Through Transact24, Net1 now offers debit, credit and prepaid processing and issuing services for Visa, MasterCard and ChinaUnionPay in China and other territories across Asia-Pacific, Europe and Africa, and the United States.
UEPS permits the Company to facilitate biometrically secure, real-time electronic transaction processing to unbanked and under-banked populations of developing economies around the world in an online or offline environment. Net1's UEPS/EMV solution is interoperable with global EMV standards that seamlessly enable access to all the UEPS functionality in a traditional EMV environment. In addition to payments, UEPS can be used for banking, healthcare management, payroll, remittances, voting and identification.
Net1's mobile technologies include its proprietary mobile payments solution - MVC, which offers secure mobile-based payments, as well as mobile banking and prepaid value-added services in developed and emerging countries. The Company intends to deploy its varied mobile solutions through its ZAZOO business unit, which is an aggregation of innovative technology companies and is based in the United Kingdom.
Net1 has a primary listing on the NASDAQ and a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Forward Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A discussion of various factors that cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements are included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to revise any of these statements to reflect future events.
Contact Information:
Investor Relations Contact:
Dhruv Chopra
Head of Investor Relations
Phone: +1-917-767-6722
Email: dchopra@net1.com