SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico--(BUSINESS WIRE)--EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE: EVTC) (“Evertec” or the “Company”) announced today the signing of an agreement with Banco Santander Chile (“Banco Santander”) under which Evertec will provide acquiring processing services as well as other solutions and regional expertise as Banco Santander enters the merchant acquiring business in Chile.
Mac Schuessler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Evertec said, “We are extremely pleased to provide our products and services to Banco Santander, the first bank to announce plans to open the Chilean payments market. We are confident that our platform and services, together with our team of experts in the processing and acquiring business, will drive innovation and accelerate market growth as market participants look for alternatives. This confirms our strategy of localizing our platform for key markets such as Chile, as well as the transition of our license products to processing products. As a processor with local capabilities, we believe we are well-positioned to meaningfully benefit as the market grows.”
Under this agreement, Evertec will provide Banco Santander a complete, secure and efficient cloud-based solution that includes, but is not limited to:
- the switching and authorization of transactions
- acquiring platform for the administration of the merchant business
- omni-channel solutions, including e-Commerce offerings as well as Mobile Commerce
- security and fraud management and solutions
Miguel Mata, General Manager for Banco Santander Chile, said, “With Evertec’s credentials as a leading regional payment processing company, Santander will leverage our robust client base to achieve our strategic objective of increasing the coverage, depth and security of the payment methods in Chile, both face-to-face as well as in e-commerce. As a result of this initiative, Santander will accelerate the transformation of the payments market in Chile allowing any entrepreneur, merchant or business owner to have their own point-of-sale (POS) device to accept card payments in a more secure manner.”
About Evertec
EVERTEC, Inc. (NYSE: EVTC) is a leading full-service transaction processing business in Latin America, providing a broad range of merchant acquiring, payment processing and business solutions services. The Company manages a system of electronic payment networks that process more than two billion transactions annually and offers a comprehensive suite of services for core bank processing, cash processing and technology outsourcing. In addition, Evertec owns and operates the ATH® network, one of the leading personal identification number (“PIN”) debit networks in Latin America. Based in Puerto Rico, the Company operates in 26 Latin American countries and serves a diversified customer base of leading financial institutions, merchants, corporations and government agencies with “mission-critical” technology solutions. For more information, visit www.evertecinc.com.
About Banco Santander Chile
Banco Santander Chile is the largest bank in the Chilean market in terms of loans and assets. As of March 31, 2019, the Bank had total assets of Ch$ 39,668 billion, net loans of provisions of Ch$ 29,779 billion, deposits of Ch$ 21,462 billion, and total equity of Ch$ 3,368 billion. The BIS capital ratio as of March 2019 was 13.6%, with a core capital ratio of 10.8%. Banco Santander Chile is one of the companies with the highest risk classifications in Latin America with an A1 rating from Moody's, A from Fitch, A from Standard and Poor's, and A+ from Japan Credit Rating Agency.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of, and subject to the protection of, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of EVERTEC to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Statements preceded by, followed by, or that otherwise include the words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “projects,” “estimates,” and “plans” and similar expressions of future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “should,” “would,” “may,” and “could” are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts. Any statements that refer to expectations or other characterizations of future events, circumstances or results are forward-looking statements.
Various factors that could cause actual future results and other future events to differ materially from those estimated by management include, but are not limited to: the Company’s reliance on its relationship with Popular for a significant portion of revenue and to grow the Company's merchant acquiring business; the Company's ability to renew its client contracts on terms favorable to the Company, including the Company's Master Services Agreement (MSA) with Popular, and any significant concessions the Company may have to grant to Popular with respect to pricing or other key terms in anticipation of the negotiation of the extension of the MSA, both in respect of the current term and any extension of the MSA; a potential government shutdown; a continuation of the Government of Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis; the effectiveness of the Company’s risk management procedures; dependence on the Company's processing systems, technology infrastructure, security systems and fraudulent-payment-detection systems, and the risk that the Company's systems may experience breakdowns or fail to prevent security breaches, confidential data theft or fraudulent transfers; our ability to develop, install and adopt new technology; impairments to the Company’s amortizable intangible assets and goodwill; a decreased client base due to consolidations in the banking and financial-services industry; the credit risk of the Company’s merchant clients, for which the Company may also be liable; a decline in the market for the Company’s services due to increased competition, changes in consumer spending or payment preferences; the continuing market position of the ATH® network; the Company’s dependence on credit card associations and debit networks; regulatory limitations on the Company’s activities, including the potential need to seek regulatory approval to consummate transactions, due to the Company’s relationship with Popular and the Company’s role as a service provider to financial institutions and the Company’s potential inability to obtain such approval on a timely basis or at all; changes in the regulatory environment and changes in international, legal, tax, political, administrative or economic conditions; the Company’s ability to comply with federal, state, and local regulatory requirements; the geographical concentration of the Company’s business in Puerto Rico; operating an international business in multiple regions with potential political and economic instability; operating an international business in countries and with counterparties that increase the Company’s compliance risks and puts the Company at risk of violating U.S. sanctions laws; the Company’s ability to execute the Company’s expansion and acquisition strategies; the Company’s ability to protect the Company’s intellectual property rights; the Company’s ability to recruit and retain qualified personnel; evolving industry standards; the Company’s high level of indebtedness and restrictions contained in the Company’s debt agreements; the Company’s ability to generate sufficient cash to service the Company’s indebtedness and to generate future profits and the impact of natural disasters or catastrophic events in the countries in which the Company operates.
Consideration should be given to the areas of risk described above, as well as those risks set forth under the headings “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” in the reports the Company files with the SEC from time to time, in connection with considering any forward-looking statements that may be made by the Company and its businesses generally. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements, to report events or to report the occurrence of unanticipated events unless the Company is required to do so by law.
