WEX Inc.’s European Expansion Plans Accelerate
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 30, 2017--
WEX
Inc. (NYSE: WEX), a leading provider of corporate payment solutions,
today announced its European office has secured an Electronic Money
Institute (EMI) license by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and, as
a result, is now a principal member of Mastercard.
The EMI license enables WEX to offer credit and therefore the full
product suite, in all 31 countries in the European Economic Area, which
according to the latest figures from PhocusWright, is a travel market
worth an estimated €273 billion. This new license accelerates WEX’s
European expansion plans, which have been a core part of the global
strategy of the virtual payments line of business.
“Having our own e-money license and becoming a principal member of
Mastercard are key elements of our European strategy,” said Ian Johnson,
Commercial Director Europe, at WEX. “Almost all businesses are looking
for effective ways to manage supplier payments, and we are pleased to
provide our full range of products and credit services across EEA."
He continued, “We’re always looking for ways to deliver more service to
our customers and this enables us to do so yet again: being the card
issuer ourselves makes us more agile in the marketplace and with the
widest product portfolio in this space we are able to make significant
savings for our customers. We’re very customer focused and strongly
believe that this move will make us an even more valuable partner to
them.”
WEX pioneered virtual payments in 2000, and the company remains focused
on serving the global travel industry where it has an extensive customer
base. WEX virtual payments are available in all major international
currencies, and as credit, debit and prepaid cards, which minimise
foreign exchange costs and help customers to maximise per booking
profitability. WEX virtual payments are already being used in 210
countries and territoties worldwide and in more than 150 currencies. For
more information on WEX’s solutions in Europe, please visit www.wexvirtualpayments.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements, including
statements regarding: management’s expectations for European expansion
plans; and, the usefulness of the recently obtained Electronic Money
Institute (EMI) license from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and
of being a principal member of Mastercard. Any statements that are not
statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking
statements. When used in this news release, the words "may," "could,"
"anticipate," "plan," "continue," "project," "intend," "estimate,"
"believe," "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements
contain such words. These forward-looking statements are subject to a
number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially, including: the effects of general economic conditions
on fueling patterns as well as payment and transaction processing
activity; the impact of foreign currency exchange rates on the Company’s
operations, revenue and income; changes in interest rates; the impact of
fluctuations in fuel prices; the effects of the Company’s business
expansion and acquisition efforts; potential adverse changes to business
or employee relationships, including those resulting from the completion
of an acquisition; competitive responses to any acquisitions;
uncertainty of the expected financial performance of the combined
operations following completion of an acquisition; the ability to
successfully integrate the Company's acquisitions, including Electronic
Funds Source LLC's operations and employees; the ability to realize
anticipated synergies and cost savings; unexpected costs, charges or
expenses resulting from an acquisition; the Company's failure to
successfully operate and expand ExxonMobil's European and Asian
commercial fuel card programs; the failure of corporate investments to
result in anticipated strategic value; the impact and size of credit
losses; the impact of changes to the Company's credit standards;
breaches of the Company’s technology systems or those of our third-party
service providers and any resulting negative impact on our reputation,
liabilities or relationships with customers or merchants; the Company’s
failure to maintain or renew key agreements; failure to expand the
Company’s technological capabilities and service offerings as rapidly as
the Company’s competitors; failure to successfully implement the
Company’s information technology strategies and capabilities in
connection with its technology outsourcing and insourcing arrangements
and any resulting cost associated with that failure; the actions of
regulatory bodies, including banking and securities regulators, or
possible changes in banking or financial regulations impacting the
Company’s industrial bank, the Company as the corporate parent or other
subsidiaries or affiliates; the impact of the Company’s outstanding
notes on its operations; the impact of increased leverage on the
Company's operations, results or borrowing capacity generally, and as a
result of acquisitions specifically; the incurrence of impairment
charges if our assessment of the fair value of certain of our reporting
units changes; the uncertainties of litigation; as well as other risks
and uncertainties identified in Item 1A of our Annual Report for the
year ended December 31, 2016, filed on Form 10-K with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on March 6, 2017 and our Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2017 filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on May 8, 2017. The Company's forward-looking
statements do not reflect the potential future impact of any alliance,
merger, acquisition, disposition or stock repurchases. The
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this earnings
release and undue reliance should not be placed on these statements. The
Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking
statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About WEX Inc.
WEX Inc. (NYSE: WEX) is a leading provider of
corporate payment solutions. From its roots in fleet card payments
beginning in 1983, WEX has expanded the scope of its business into a
multi-channel provider of corporate payment solutions representing more
than 10 million vehicles and offering exceptional payment security and
control across a wide spectrum of business sectors. WEX serves a global
set of customers and partners through its operations around the world,
with offices in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, the
United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, Norway, and Singapore. WEX and
its subsidiaries employ more than 2,700 associates. The Company has been
publicly traded since 2005, and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange
under the ticker symbol “WEX.” For more information, visit www.wexinc.com and
follow WEX on Twitter at @WEXIncNews.
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Source: WEX Inc.
JPW Communications
Jamie Wortley, +44 (0) 1769 573444
jamie@jpwcommunications.com