RBS Launches U.S. E-Payment Business

Group Brings Global Expertise to Fast-Growing U.S. Market

RBS Appoints Josh Groves as President of new venture

June 4, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO – The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) today announced that it is expanding its global e-commerce presence into the U.S., with the launch of a comprehensive e-payments solution for the U.S. market.

The new online payments service will offer U.S. businesses the opportunity to process credit card payments from U.S. cardholders as well as enable multi-currency transactions for non-U.S. cardholders – all from a single Internet gateway, and supported by RBS acquiring services around the world. RBS will provide U.S. e-commerce businesses with a cost-effective and simplified payment solution that will enable their online customers to pay for their purchase in more than 100 currencies using a credit card or other local payment types. For example, businesses operating in the U.S. with overseas customers can give those customers the opportunity to pay in their native currency in 143 countries, rather than U.S. dollars.

The service also offers a single-source model that eliminates the need for companies to establish and maintain contracts with multiple processors and acquirers. Businesses will also benefit from the support of a dedicated team to assist with the customer service, account management and detailed transaction reports.

The RBS service is PCI compliant, enabling merchants to accept online credit card payment without having to store the card information or become PCI-compliant themselves. The gateway also helps merchants determine the level of risk for transactions before they are sent for authorization, meaning that merchants can lower the risk of incurring charges for fraudulent transactions.

RBS has extensive experience in the global e-commerce space and is the leading Internet payment specialist in Europe, providing services to Internet retailers in over 40 countries. The online marketplace has been expanding greatly in recent years with predictions saying that the number of annual electronic payment transactions will double by 2010 from a current level of 210 billion worldwide.

RBS will debut the new e-commerce service at the Internet Retailer Conference at the San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California, between June 4 -7, 2007.

As a part of its commitment to e-commerce in the U.S., RBS has also appointed Josh Groves to President of the new e-commerce venture. His newly created team focuses exclusively on providing North American businesses with the opportunity to process credit card payments from U.S. cardholders as well as enable multi-currency transactions for non-U.S. cardholders, and will be part of the National Business Unit at RBSLynk. Groves has a proven track record of developing strong e-business and Internet-based services solutions. From 2002-2006, Groves was CEO of Magex Holdings Limited, a leading P2P payments and gift card solutions provider to merchants and financial services companies in the United States and Europe.

“RBS has a significant global presence in this market and we look forward to applying our expertise throughout the U.S.,” said Groves. “Increasingly customers are demanding more advanced services from online merchants and enabling them to pay with their preferred currency or payment method can provide these businesses with a competitive advantage.”

“The Internet has changed the way the world does business. To compete in the global e-commerce marketplace, companies must accept payments and currencies locally.  RBS’s e-payments solution provides a single-source solution for these opportunities.”

Notes to editors:

PCI Compliant: A PCI compliant service conforms to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. It was developed by the major credit card companies as a guideline to help organizations that process card payments prevent credit card fraud, hacking and various other security issues.

About RBS Group

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) is one of the world's leading financial services companies providing a range of retail and corporate banking, financial markets, consumer finance, insurance, and wealth management services. In 2006, RBS posted total revenue of $51.6 billion and operating profit before tax, goodwill amortization and integration costs of $17.4 billion. RBS serves more than 36 million personal customers world-wide and employs more than 140,000 people, including nearly 30,000 in the U.S.

About RBS WorldPay

RBS WorldPay is a leading, single-source provider of electronic payment processing services – including credit, debit, EBT, checks, gift cards, e-commerce, customer loyalty cards, fleet cards, prepaid cards, ATM processing and cash management services. The U.S. payment processing division of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, RBS WorldPay is a non-bank subsidiary of Citizens Financial Group. For more information, please visit www.rbsworldpay.us.

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