BioPay Targets the Hispanic Market for Biometric Check Cashing

Spanish-Speaking Consumers Put Their Fingers on a New Way to Cash Paychecks

Lea este comunicado de prensa en español.

Herndon, VA — November 4, 2005

BioPay, the leading biometric transaction processor in the country, announced today that it will extend its program that actively targets retailers serving the nation's rapidly expanding Hispanic community for its Paycheck Secure product. BioPay has more than two million enrolled consumers and has completed more than $7 billion in authorized transactions to date.

BioPay has increasingly found success in metro areas with significant Spanish-speaking populations such as: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Orlando, Dallas, Houston, and Raleigh-Durham, NC. The company plans to expand their presence with retailers in additional metropolitan areas with large Hispanic populations, such as Phoenix, Chicago, New York, Las Vegas, Northern Virginia and the Washington, DC metro area, where BioPay's headquarters is located.

BioPay's Paycheck Secure system allows consumers to enroll at a grocery store, liquor store, convenience store or check cashing location. Once enrolled, consumers can cash their payroll check at the enrolled location (or in some cases, across a chain of locations) just by "putting their finger down" to confirm their identity. BioPay's Paycheck Secure is installed in many Hispanic and total market grocery chains across the country, including Cardenas and Mi Pueblo in California; Malone's Cost Plus in Dallas, Texas; and El Presidente in Miami, Florida. Additionally, Bi-Lo, Raley's and Lowes Foods are among over 1,500 retailers that are offering the biometric system to their customers.

New immigrants from countries such as El Salvador, Mexico, and Guatemala have fueled an ongoing rise in the estimated 9 to 10 percent of American households, or an estimated of 30 million people, that do not have a checking account, according to the US Treasury. Often "lightly documented," these hard-working residents have traditionally found it difficult to cash their paychecks at a bank or a retail store. Because of the certainty of biometric identification, consumers are gravitating towards retailers using this new technology.

"I love it. As a person without a bank account, cashing my paycheck has just gotten much easier with BioPay's Paycheck Secure," says Isidro Vega. "I just walk in, put my finger down and the clerk instantly 'knows' me."

Retailer Ed Vela, General Manager at Los Angeles-based Jax Markets added, "I love the system. It works amazingly well. Before I used it in my store I was losing $12,000 per quarter. Once we installed it, we nearly eliminated fraud."

Hispanic market advertising and public relations firm Lanza Group, LLC will handle the national Spanish-language PR campaign for BioPay. In addition to traditional PR avenues, BioPay will also be looking to partner with industry trade groups and local retail organizations that serve the Hispanic community.