The US $7.8 million stock transaction was completed on July 26. This follows Bank of Bermuda's initial strategic investment of US $6.5 million with the purchase of 1 million First Ecom.com shares on November 26, 1999.
"Bank of Bermuda's investment further cements our relationship and our joint commitment to provide a cost-effective payment processing solution to banks and their merchants," said Harold Hutton, president and CEO of First Ecom.com. "Together we are making the outsourcing of payment processing a viable alternative for banks."
"Outsourcing is the most feasible option for banks to immediately support the growing number of e-commerce merchants worldwide," said Alan Richardson, executive vice president, retail clients for the Bank of Bermuda Ltd. "This investment illustrates our confidence that First Ecom is the electronic payment processing solution for banks throughout Asia and the rest of the world."
About Bank of Bermuda
Bank of Bermuda is an international financial institution that provides banking, trust, asset management, fund administration and global custody services to its corporate, private and retail clients. Founded in 1889, its global headquarters are in Bermuda, and it has offices or subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Dublin, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Jersey, Luxembourg, New York, New Zealand, and Singapore. It has representative offices in Bahrain and London.
About First Ecom.com
As a global provider of electronic payment processing, First Ecom.com provides secure, easy-to-implement and low-cost online payment processing services to banks and their merchants worldwide. Through strategic partnerships with banks, ISPs, e-commerce product suppliers, system integrators and storefront solution providers, First Ecom.com processes credit card transactions made over the Internet in multiple currencies, either domestically or offshore in a tax-neutral jurisdiction. For more information, visit http://www.firstecom.com or contact First Ecom.com at +(852) 2801-5181 or by e-mail at info@firstecom.com.