The Post Office Ltd is working with LINK to enable people with basic bank accounts to withdraw money at 15,000 Post Office counters across the UK. These accounts form a central part of the Government's Universal Banking Services Programme.

BACKGROUND

The findings of a government report published in June 2000 highlighted that a "universal bank" should be created as one of a number of measures designed to prevent the closure of rural Post Offices. As then Trade & Industry Secretary, Stephen Byers, explained, the objective of the "universal bank" is to move towards a system of paying recipients of state benefits via automated credit transfer (ACT) into their bank accounts. The programme will also bring those 3.5 million adults in the UK, who have no bank account into the banking mainstream by providing basic banking services, either through the banking system or through the Post Office Card Account (POCA). Customers with basic bank accounts will be able to withdraw cash at any Post Office and cash machines. They will be able to set up direct debits to pay bills, enabling them to benefit from discounts on gas, electricity, telephone and other bills. 15 financial institutions, including seven of the country's largest banks - HSBC, Abbey National, Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Halifax, Natwest and the Royal Bank of Scotland offer these basic banking account services through the whole of the Post Office Counters Ltd. network . A number of banks have also extended access at PO counters to all their customers. Over 2.5m transactions per month are now coming from PO counters through the LINK switch.

NETWORK BANKING - MAIN POINTS OF THE LINK SERVICE ELEMENTS

LINK was chosen for its proven technological expertise in the transaction management arena and its existing infrastructure linking nearly every bank and building society in the UK. It works with Post Office Ltd to build high capacity, secure connections between LINK and the Post Office's Horizon platform to enable electronic messages between Post Office counters and customers' banks authorising withdrawals or balance enquiries.

LINK is uniquely placed to support The Post Office:

• Infrastructure - LINK already enables transactions between every major bank and building society in UK via the LINK cash machine network
• IT Platform - LINK's secure, trusted and failsafe platform enables online authorised debit payment transactions 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
• Capacity - LINK can process over 17,000 transactions a minute, which can easily be increased
• LINK's systems enable a wide range of transactions to take place, including withdrawals and balance enquiries
• LINK is the only shared, branded shared ATM network operating throughout the entire UK. It is also in the enviable position of being the busiest, and largest single-country ATM switch in the world.

LINK's experience of running the LINK cash machine network means we are well placed to offer solutions and advice to organisations seeking transaction management expertise. The network banking service complements its move towards offering a wider portfolio of transaction management services.

Copyright (C) LINK Interchange Nework Ltd 2005