Tourism industry finds virtual credit cards from Wirecard a convincing solution

Not only successful among consumers: virtual cards also in great demand in the business-to-business community

Berlin, Munich/Grasbrunn; February 14, 2007; Wirecard’s Supplier and Commission Payments product enables the tourism industry to automate its global business-to-business (B2B) payment processing.

Numerous customers of Wirecard are already relying on the solution introduced last year – including the leading hotel reservation portals Bookit.nl from the Netherlands and Planigo.com from France.

The solution is based on an automated issuing of “virtual” credit cards by Wirecard Bank AG. This makes it possible e.g. for international hotel reservations via online platforms, GDS (Global Distribution Service) and travel agencies to be forwarded to the respective hotel on a real-time basis using the virtual credit card. Accordingly, hotel reservations can also be made if the consumer has no credit card of his own or wants to pay for the reservation using some alternative payment method.

The actual time of payment is freely determined by defining full and partial payment terms (e.g. on making the reservation, on arrival or departure). This represents a win-win situation for all parties involved: the hotel receives a guaranteed payment and the intermediary or broker a substantial liquidity benefit.

“Full reconciliation of payments and reservations and the security of the payment process as such are guaranteed by the non-recurring and special-purpose use of the ‘virtual’ credit card,” says Jörg Möller, VP Sales of Wirecard AG.

The Wirecard Supplier and Commission Payments solution is fully integrated into the Wirecard payment transaction platform. Optionally, when incoming funds are registered, pro-rata payouts can automatically be triggered to ancillary suppliers or sales partners. In the process, Wirecard provides a particularly fast and cost-efficient method for settlement of international payments in the tourism industry.

Visit us: ITB Berlin March 07-11, 2007: Travel Technology section hall 6.1 booth 149

Press Release

Wirecard-Media contact:
Wirecard PR&IR Office
Iris Stöckl
Bretonischer Ring 4
85630 Grasbrunn, Germany
Ph. : +49 (0) 89 4424 0424
Fax: +49 (0) 89 4424 0524
E-Mail: iris.stoeckl@wirecard.com
Internet: www.wirecard.com

About Wirecard

Wirecard AG is one of the leading global providers of electronic payment and risk management services. The company provides customers with a wide range of national and global payment options. Being a Principal Member of Visa International Service Associates (VISA), MasterCard Europe sprl. as well as JCB International, Wirecard Bank AG supplements the portfolio of services. The software platform is being used by more than 6,000 enterprises across the globe, including dba, Gulf Air, HSE24 and QVC. Wirecard AG is listed on the German stock exchange in Frankfurt (TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060, WDI).

www.wirecard.com - www.wirecardbank.com