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TSX Venture Exchange: FGD
Frankfurt Stock Exchange: 1G5
TORONTO, Nov. 23, 2017 /CNW/ - First Global Data ("First
Global" or the "Company") is very pleased to announce that it has
exceeded 1 million users, and would like to provide the
following corporate update.
Annual General Meeting:
On October 26, 2017 the Company
conducted its Annual General Meeting ("AGM"). The meeting was well
attended with a record number of shareholders in attendance. The
Company's Chairman and CEO, Mr. Andre
Itwaru presented the Company's corporate overview, lines of
business, corporate strategy, objectives and direction.
Mr. Itwaru shared that the Company's corporate strategy includes
a three-phased approach. Firstly, the Company partners with large
strategic organizations which have an embedded customer base.
Secondly, it works with its strategic partners to penetrate that
embedded customer base by encouraging them to download the mobile
app/register. Thirdly, the Company works with its partners to
encourage those customers to use one or many of the services
offered to drive revenues.
The Company's current objectives include:
- Customer Acquisiton: by leveraging partners' base of existing
users
- Penetrating: 1 Million Active Users
- Monetizing: Drive annual revenue per user ("ARPU") to
$280
- Continue to increase profitability
- Increase customer penetration beyond 1 Million
- Duplicate model in each corridor and every deploy
Mr. Ken Zheng, Chief Operating
Officer of one of the Company's China based strategic partners, Lianlian Pay
presented Lianlian and shared that Lianlian:
- Is the 4th largest mobile payment service provider
in China
- Has a customer base of 150 million registered users
- Has 10,000+ online merchants
- Has processed in excess of US$ 80
Billion in transactions to date in 2017
Mr. Zheng demonstrated the world's first social messaging based
cross border remittance service which has been launched in
partnership between Lianlian Pay and First Global on the WeChat
messaging platform. Mr. Zheng also shared his views on the growth
and potential of the partnership with First Global. The
presentations were quite interactive and there was significant
interest by shareholders with many questions and answers.
Presentations are available for view at:
www.firstglobaldata.com/agm
India Progress and User Base:
First Global is pleased to advise that in India, through its partnership with
Vijaya Bank and the VPayqwik mobile
wallet offering, the Company has achieved 972,364 users. The
company is pleased with this penetration given the short timeframe
services have been available in the Indian market. The Company is
working with Vijaya Bank to continue
increasing the number of users and to drive incremental
transactions and revenues per user.
Remittances User Base, Lianlian Pay, and US Licenses:
First Global is pleased to announce that its user base for
remittances services in the USA
and Canada which includes the
Happy Transfer service launched in cooperation with Lianlian Pay
has achieved 322,024 users.
Happy Transfer is a service available in the USA on the WeChat social messaging platform.
It allows a person in the USA to
send money from their mobile phones to a user in China in approximately 9 seconds. The service
is the first of its kind in the world. Launch of services occurs on
a state-by-state basis. The Company has launched this service in 24
states, continues its launch program into the other 10 states and
has been working with Lianlian Pay toward launch in Canada.
In 2017, the Company has increased its US state money
transmitter licenses by 13 and continues to work toward achieving
all 50 licenses. The full complement of state licenses will enable
the Company to offer all of its services country wide in the
USA.
AnalytixInsight:
On July 5, 2017 the Company
announced that it had entered into a Letter of Intent with
Analytixinsight to expand First Global's mobile payments services
across Europe and elsewhere in a
revenue sharing model. AnalytixInsight will leverage its
partnerships with organizations such as Samsung and Intesa
Sanpaolo, to expand First Global's mobile payments services across
Europe and elsewhere as determined
by the Parties in a revenue sharing model. Intesa Sanpaolo - one of
Italy's largest banks with a
market cap of over €45 billion - has shared ownership in
AnalytixInsight's subsidiary Marketwall. Under the partnership,
Intesa Sanpaolo will migrate approximately 8 million mobile banking
users in 8,000 retail branches to Marketwall's mobile platform
across five European countries, to provide a range of mobile
payment services.
The Company would like to advise that it is actively working
with Analytixinsight to conclude the definitive agreement and to
engage project teams toward service deployment anticipated to occur
in Q1, 2018.
China Smartpay:
On September 25, 2017 First Global
announced that it has entered into a Binding Memorandum of
Understanding ("MOU") with China Smartpay to deliver cross border
payment solutions for Chinese vacation travelers and students
studying overseas. The Company would like to advise that it is
actively working with China Smartpay toward conclusion of the
definitive agreement and service launch in time for Chinese New Year on or prior to February 16, 2018.
In the September 25, 2017
announcement, Mr. Xiong, the President of China Smartpay Group
Holding advised that, "Chinese outbound tourism will continue to
experience consistent rapid growth. In 2016 Chinese outbound
tourists spent 216 billion US dollars, of which the
United States accounted for 120 billion US dollars. This
shows that the North American market is one of most important
destinations for Chinese tourists…China Smartpay Group…is
partnering with First Global Data for its leading technology,
licenses, and wide payment network and capabilities in North
America to carry out the North American market mobile payment
business."
"The AGM was a great success. I sincerely appreciated meeting
our shareholders, sharing our vision and progress, answering their
questions and listening to their perspectives and advice. I am also
very pleased with the progress we have made toward increasing our
customer base. We are focused on having all of our deployments
around the world contribute toward achieving 1 million active users
generating $280 of revenue per user
per year. We are very pleased with the progress we have made with
our China based partners as we
deploy innovative solutions for the very large overseas Chinese
demographic and shoppers. We also continue to improve our
technological capabilities which includes enhancing our existing
mobile wallet to encompass the acceptance of crypto currencies in a
compliant and regulatory manner, and this solution will be
available on a white label basis to our strategic partners. We
believe that the impact of the progress we have made will be better
understood toward the end of 2017 and into 2018", said Andre Itwaru, Chairman and CEO of the
Company.
About First Global
First Global is an international financial services technology
("FINTECH") company. The Company's two main lines of business are
mobile payments and cross border payments. First Global's
proprietary leading edge technology enables the convergence of
compliant domestic and cross border payments, shopping, Peer to
Peer ("P2P"), Business to Consumer ("B2C"), and Business to
Business ("B2B") payments. First Global enables its strategic
partners and clients around the world with our leading edge
financial services technology platform.
Caution:
Neither TSX Venture Exchange Inc. ("TSXV")
nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in
the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy
or accuracy of this release.
The securities offered have not been registered under the
U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or
sold in the United States absent
registration or an applicable exemption from the registration
requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to
sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any
sale of the securities offered in any jurisdiction in which such
offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.
Forward Looking Information:
This news release
contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of
applicable securities laws. Although First Global believes in light
of the experience of its officers and directors, current conditions
and expected future developments and other factors that have been
considered appropriate, that the expectations reflected in this
forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should
not be placed on them because First Global can give no assurance
that they will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned to not
place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Actual results
and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by
these statements. The statements in this press release are made as
of the date of this release. First Global undertakes no obligation
to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by
third-parties in respect of First Global, its securities, or
financial or operating results (as applicable). First Global
disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any
forward-looking information, whether as a result of new
information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as
required by applicable securities laws.
SOURCE First Global Data Limited