PORTLAND, Ore, 10 July, 2007 — Vesta Corporation, an innovator and worldwide leader in payments solutions and services, announced that its Chinese subsidiary, KPay, has officially launched retail payment services for the Beijing transit card.
The popular stored value transit cards use contactless IC technology. This intelligence eliminates the need for cards to be "swiped" — instead, cards are simply placed near sensors at checkout facilities. Over 12 million transit cards have been issued to commuters in Beijing for use in buses, subways and taxis. Now, the Beijing city government has contracted with Vesta's Chinese subsidiary KPay to extend the transit card payment network into retail payments.
"Our experience during the test phase indicates that commuters will readily adopt the transit card for non-cash retail payments, which are convenient, fast and secure," said Doug Fieldhouse, CEO and President of Vesta Corporation. He noted that highly successful retail applications of other transit cards in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore demonstrate the huge opportunity for KPay in Beijing.
KPay leveraged its existing merchant relationships with major convenience stores, supermarket chains and restaurants in Beijing, including Lian Hua (Quik Mart), Hao Ling Zhu, Jing Ke Long, and Hua Pu, to install the new payment system. The new system is fast, reliable and simple to use, allowing these Beijing merchants to offer a more convenient means of payment to their customers. And with 12 million transit cards already issued, retailers expect that this new payment option will be very popular with consumers.
The company expects that KPay's point-of-sale footprint will cover thousands of retail stores in Beijing by the end of 2007. For more information on KPay, visit www.kuaipay.com.
Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, USA, with operations in Europe and China, Vesta has been a pioneer and worldwide leader in virtual payments since 1995. Building upon its core mission to accelerate the global growth of virtual commerce by providing innovative payment and financial solutions, Vesta has established long-term, successful relationships with leading international companies including AT&T Mobility, AT&T Long Distance, alphyra group ltd., China Mobile, China Unicom, Ericsson, Meteor Mobile Communications, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. The company has achieved extraordinary growth, and has received numerous awards and recognition, including recent induction into the Inc. Hall of Fame for five consecutive years as an Inc. 500 fastest growing private company.
Mark Atkeson
Vice President, China
mark@9588.com
+86 10 5986-2244
Joshua Rush
Director, Marketing
joshua.rush@trustvesta.com
+1 503.790.2500