Metropolitan Launches Personal Loans on ACET Processing

Cape Town, April 2007 – Metropolitan Card Operations (MCO), a division of Metropolitan Holdings Limited, has successfully launched a personal loans portfolio hosted by ACET Processing, the pre-eminent third party processor in the Africa Middle East region.

Metropolitan, one of the four largest life assurers in South Africa, currently insures over 4 million customers and recently launched MCO GoalLoan to this expanding customer base.

ACET’s unique processing solution was selected by Metropolitan to host the loans portfolio due to its broad offering of packaged and customised outsourced processing solutions that are underpinned by system reliability and service excellence. The ACET platform is built on First Data International’s market-leading account processing system, VisionPLUS®. In conjunction with VisionPLUS®, established ACET Processing customers benefit from the use of Fair Isaac’s account management strategy software, TRIAD™, thereby improving customer targeting and enabling smarter, more effective use of operational resources.

Andrew Goodrich, Acting Chief Operating Officer at Metropolitan Card Operations, comments, “MCO decided to outsource the account hosting and processing components to ACET Processing because of the unique and specialist value they bring to the partnership and due to the accelerated time to market of such an outsource relationship. In terms of our partnership with ACET Processing, the elapsed time – from project initiation to acceptance of the very first loan – was an impressive 4 months. Partnering with an organisation known for their specialist credit industry and ICT expertise allowed MCO to concentrate on growing our new business, thereby contributing significantly to the realisation of a competitive edge for our company.”

Mike Crawley, Director at ACET Processing, adds, “One of the strategic benefits of outsourcing is that it allows a business to focus on core competencies by assigning non-core functions to specialists in the field. By partnering with ACET, Metropolitan benefit from the world’s leading credit processing system, VisionPLUS®, and the in-depth and specialist skills of our consultants at a competitive entry point. The cost of maintaining in-house solutions whilst retaining scarce ICT resources is highly prohibitive. By opting for an outsourced solution, Metropolitan will leverage our expertise and technology to successfully meet their business objectives and maintain a high level of service to their customers.”

In order to remain cost-effective and competitive, most organisations are considering outsourcing as a vital tool for taking new products to market and to meet the ongoing, evolving needs of their consumer finance portfolios. ACET Processing provides full customer and account processing services to retail credit and financial services organisations.

About ACET Processing
With offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Dubai, ACET Processing offers clients across the region access to both the VisionPLUS® account processing system and the TRIAD™ account management solution. ACET Processing is jointly owned by PIC Solutions, the largest credit risk management consultancy in the Southern Hemisphere and First Data International. Through this unique combination of proven state-of-the-art credit and risk systems, world-class third party processing expertise and established customer management solutions, ACET Processing provides clients across Africa and the Middle East with an unsurpassed range of services. For more information, visit the ACET Processing website at www.ACETProcessing.com

Editorial Contact:
Mike Crawley
Director
Tel: +27 (0)21 680-6000
Fax: +27 (0)11 680-6003
Email: Info@ACETProcessing.com
Web: www.ACETProcessing.com