Audrey MarksUS COMPANY Equitex announced yesterday that its previously announced memorandum of understanding with Paymaster (Jamaica), which is run by Ms. Audrey Marks has now been formalised into a binding agreement under substantially the same terms and conditions announced on June 27, 2002.
Under the terms of the agreement, at the time of closing, Equitex will provide a capital advance to Paymaster Jamaica that may be converted into stock of a newly formed subsidiary, Paymaster Worldwide, Inc. Paymaster Worldwide will be equally and jointly owned by Equitex and Paymaster Jamaica and its purpose is to replicate and commercialise the Paymaster Jamaica business model throughout North America, and possibly worldwide.
In addition, the agreement calls for Equitex, in conjunction with Paymaster Jamaica, to market a proprietary stored value card program through a newly formed Equitex subsidiary. The initial focus of the program will be the international funds remittance business between the United States and Jamaica.
Paymaster is looking to introduce a stored value card that can be used for remittances and utilities. Once money is loaded onto a stored value card, customers have immediate access to their funds wherever the card is accepted. If a customer wishes to transfer funds to family or friends either nationally or internationally, they may purchase a second card that is sent to the recipient, which may be used to access the transferred funds for a minimal fee
Initially Paymaster will use the new card to target cash remittance business
Ms. Marks said in a company release. "We believe we can offer the recipient of these transactions a faster, more secure means of transferring funds from abroad with significantly lower fees than those charged by the traditional remittance services."
According to the United States Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, total cash remittances sent to Jamaica, principally from the United States, Great Britain and Canada came to approximately US$1 billion in 2001. It was also reported that the average remittance cost on a US$200 transaction to Jamaica was in excess of US$20.
It is estimated that that there are more than 80 million people in the United States alone that do not have a bank account, and the stored value card can provide these consumers access to the banking system.
Equitex, Inc. is a holding company operating through its wholly owned subsidiaries Nova Financial Systems and Key Financial Systems of Clearwater, Florida, and Chex Services of Minnetonka, Minnesota. Nova and Key design, market and service credit card products. Chex Services provides comprehensive cash access services.
Started in 1987 by Ms. Marks, Paymaster Jamaica presently has over 700,000 consumer clients accessing services at approximately 100 service outlets. The company does over 400,000 transactions per month with average collections of J$1 billion (US$20 million). In addition to its bill payment services, Paymaster offers cash remittance services.
