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The Latest
Market Studies:

82% of consumers gave or received gift cards in the 2005 holiday season and two-thirds (66%) both gave and received them. (Accenture Survey)

U.S. gift cards sales are poised to exceed $80 billion in 2006 -- a more than 20% increase over their 2005 level. (TowerGroup market research)

In the 2005 holiday season more than two-thirds (75.5%) of consumers polled said that they plan on purchasing at least one gift card, and more than half (52.3%) of consumers would like to receive gift cards. (National Retail Federation survey)

More than nine out of ten (92%) of online shoppers believe that gift cards eliminate the risk involved with holiday gift giving. Also, four out of five agree that gift cards are great last minute gifts. (Shopzilla)

Restaurants and food service companies are catching on rapidly -- more than one in four gift cards (27%) sold last holiday season were be used at sit-down restaurants. Restaurant gift card sales are projected to hit $18 billion in 2006. (Deloitte & Touche)

Central Atlantic Merchant Services partners with Smart Transaction Systems to provide gift card and customer loyalty programs for its commercial customers

Merchants transferred to Smart Transaction Systems in a seamless process

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- January 30, 2007 Smart Transaction Systems (STS), a provider of gift card and customer loyalty programs for retailers, announced today that Central Atlantic Merchant Services (CAMS) has completed the process of transferring all of its merchant gift card program customers over to the STS platform. CAMS is a leader in the credit card transaction processing industry and a regional power on the east coast.

After working with several other providers, CAMS selected STS in September of 2006 and has since converted its merchant gift card accounts to the STS system. "We worked with three other gift card providers before moving all of our business to STS. STS is much more responsive to our needs, they provide the level of service that we demand for our customers, and because we were able to transfer the merchants' existing cards over to the STS system, it was not necessary to replace any cards," said Robert Baldissero, president of CAMS.

STS provides small and medium businesses with the systems that they need to issue and manage their own gift cards and customer loyalty programs. STS is also working with a growing number of banks and merchant service providers nationally and internationally. "We are very proud to have CAMS as a partner. Dynamic organizations like CAMS are the future of our industry. We're seeing a big demand from merchant service providers like CAMS that need more flexibility and control over the gift and loyalty solutions that they offer to their customers," said Ray Clopton, president of STS.

STS has distinguished itself from other providers in the industry by offering merchant service providers a menu of options that range from a service bureau approach where STS manages everything, to a white label option that allows a bank or ISO to operate as an independent gift and loyalty transaction processor.

About Central Atlantic Merchant Services
and Susquehanna Patriot Bank
 A wholly-owned subsidiary of Susquehanna Patriot Bank, Central Atlantic Merchant Services is one of the nation's leading credit card processing companies. Susquehanna is a regional financial services holding company headquartered in Lititz, Pennsylvania. With offices in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and West Virginia, operating numerous commercial banking, wealth management, insurance and leasing companies. Susquehanna offers an extensive portfolio of financial products and services that are managed locally to provide maximum value to our customers and communities. For more information about Central Atlantic Merchant Services and Susquehanna Patriot Bank, please visit www.susquehanna.net or call 800-355-8101.

About Smart Transactions
 Founded in 1998, Smart Transaction Systems provides card-based payment systems, customer loyalty and customer relationship management (CRM) programs to a wide variety of companies throughout the United States. For small to medium-sized businesses, Smart Transaction Systems provides hosted gift card and loyalty programs that are reliable, easy to use, and affordable. For larger organizations, the company provides powerful transaction processing systems that allow these organizations to bring gift, loyalty, and private label credit card programs in-house so they can gain maximum control of these programs. Smart Transaction Systems has operations in Boulder, Colorado, Lodi Wisconsin, St. Louis, Missouri and Oslo, Norway. For more information about Smart Transaction Systems, please visit www.smart-transactions.com or call 888-494-9760.


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