LOW COST INSTANT BANK TRANSFERS

18 January 2008

Citadel Direct the answer for quick international online payments


Citadel Commerce, a subsidiary of Canadian online financial services company ESI Entertainment Systems Inc., has beefed up its Citadel Direct payment solution to support instant, low cost, bank transfers for an international base of countries.

Citadel Direct is an innovative payment solution that empowers international consumers to securely pay for purchased items using local bank transfers. This is accomplished by the consumer logging into their own Internet banking system and completing a payment transaction by securely initiating a bank transfer directly to a Citadel owned bank account.

With the new enhancement Citadel Direct provides a consumer with the option of selecting Instant Bank Transfers or Rapid Bank Transfers. Instant Bank Transfers utilize a proprietary Payment Assistant that is downloaded to the consumer's PC and is subsequently used to automatically complete the required data fields in the Internet Banking system, and where payment is immediately credited. Rapid Bank Transfer allows the consumer to independently and manually enter their own data and the payment is completed upon receipt of funds into a Citadel bank account, which may be minutes, hours, or up to a day later, depending on the capabilities of the consumer's bank. Both options provide enhanced privacy protection to the consumer as personal banking details are not provided to Citadel.

Citadel Direct is a low cost alternative payment solution that supports an international base of banks without relying on traditional banking infrastructure. It encompasses a white labeled payment interface that can be easily and rapidly integrated directly into merchant sites, along with a sophisticated fully automated backend that supports and reconciles a large network of international bank accounts, handles foreign currencies, and supports international treasury management functions.

The facility presently supports payments from Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Spain, and United Kingdom, with additional countries continuously being added.

"We believe that instant, low cost, local bank transfers for an international base of countries provides an extremely attractive alternative to credit card payments, which are expensive and expose both the merchant and the consumer to higher risk", said Michael Meeks, President of ESI and Citadel Commerce. "Beyond being a powerful instant payment option, our new approach has many additional benefits, including simplifying and automating the bank transfer process for the consumer, providing further consumer protection, significantly reducing the ability for charge backs, and reducing the number of Citadel owned bank accounts allowing for accelerated new country implementation."

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