MENTOR, Ohio, September 2, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- CardinalCommerce Corporation and First Horizon Merchant Services, Inc. (FHMS) have announced their alliance today. FHMS will offer CardinalCommerce's payment authentication software, Cardinal Centinel(tm), to their online merchant customers.
CardinalCommerce is the leading provider of online merchant payment authentication for securing online transactions. Cardinal Centinel is designed for acquiring banks, merchant service providers and their merchants. The software reduces the level of online fraudulent transactions and guarantees payment to online merchants who use it, while protecting the accounts of cardholders.
"With Cardinal Centinel, we can offer our merchants both Verified by Visa and MasterCard(r) SecureCode(tm) in one easy to install, low-cost product," stated Vicky Nation, Executive Vice President of FHMS.
CardinalCommerce's software enables multi-factor authentication to definitively identify individuals and reduce fraud. The software also features an audit trail that issuers may use for validation. Its flexible, technology-neutral architecture will recognize and use today's authentication systems, including a cardholder's username and password, hardware signature (Machine ID), smart cards, digital certificates, biometrics, and even mobile or wireless devices. This allows consumers the freedom of shopping safely and securely online in whichever mode they prefer.
"FHMS's merchants are going to be very happy with Cardinal Centinel," stated Kendall Myles, senior vice president of merchant services, for CardinalCommerce. "And with the added benefit, from Visa, of a lower interchange rate for those who implement Verified by Visa, even small merchants will recover the cost of implementation in just a few months."
About First Horizon Merchant Services
First Horizon Merchant Services is a member of the First Tennessee National Corp. (NYSE: FTN) family of companies and is one of the most successful processors of credit card payments for the travel industry. First Horizon Merchant Services is a leading provider of transaction processing and bankcard acquiring services. FHMS provides processing services for all major card types, as well as most regional and national debit and EBT cards. In addition, FHMS provides the capability for check verification and check guarantee. FHMS offers outstanding customer support, comprehensive reporting, and continuous development of processing technology to benefit clients now and into the future. For more information, please visit http://www.fhmsi.com. or www.FirstTennessee.com.
About CardinalCommerce Corporation
CardinalCommerce Corporation is a leading provider of a technology-neutral authentication platform for securing electronic and wireless commerce, thus ensuring that individuals, businesses and government agencies can process electronic transactions and access confidential information safely, securely and privately. Cardinal's proprietary technology provides consumers, merchants, credit/debit card issuers, and processors the ability to conduct fully authenticated Internet-based e-commerce, while protecting the transactions from fraud. CardinalCommerce is based in Cleveland, Ohio, and has partners throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India. For more information, visit www.cardinalcommerce.com.