10.24.06 | TRANSFIRST and Discover Financial Services Sign Merchant Processing Agreement

Consolidated servicing to benefit TRANSFIRST merchants, customers, by adding Discover Network card acceptance to its customized processing solutions

DALLAS (October 24, 2006) — TRANSFIRST, a leading provider of credit card processing services and payment enabling technologies, and Discover Financial Services LLC, a business unit of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), today announced their plans to integrate Discover Network card acceptance into TRANSFIRST's line of services for its financial institutions, independent sales partners and a broad range of merchant customers.

This is the latest deal struck by Discover in an effort to streamline and simplify processing services to merchants and broaden acceptance of Discover Network cards. For TRANSFIRST, the deal represents another positive step in its V10 strategy, the company’s long-term vision. V10 goals target growth through meaningful partnerships and focus on offering quality customer service and innovative technology to its customers.

The agreement allows Discover Network to reach TRANSFIRST customers and merchants, who will benefit from the integrated processing solutions made possible by the partnership. TRANSFIRST customers include traditional and non-traditional merchants, healthcare, card-not-present and government or public entities—all of which will have Discover Network card acceptance integrated into TRANSFIRST's customized and flexible credit card processing programs and 24/7 in-house customer support.

Moreover, TRANSFIRST will be able to provide customers a broader selection of payment options at the point of sale. TRANSFIRST sales divisions will benefit from being able to offer an integrated payment option. TRANSFIRST will be completely responsible for pricing, processing, settlement, risk management and customer service for each merchant account.

"This agreement helps represent our dedication to building on our strong relationships with acquirers," said Harit Talwar, executive vice president of Discover Network. "Our relationship with TRANSFIRST also enables us to broaden Discover Network card acceptance while offering consolidated services to merchants through the strong relationships TRANSFIRST has with its customers."

TRANSFIRST chairman and chief executive officer, Thomas Rouse, noted, "We´re very proud to bring the benefits of integrated, cost–effective, and streamlined payments processing package to our sales channel partners and merchant customers. This is another example of our continued commitment to serving our financial institutions, independent sales partners, and our merchant customers at a high level, understanding their needs and offering solutions to help them grow their businesses."

About Discover Financial Services
Discover Financial Services LLC, a business unit of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), operates the Discover Card with more than 50 million Cardmembers, and the Discover Network, with more than 4 million merchant and cash access locations. Discover Financial Services also operates the PULSE ATM/debit network, which serves more than 4,200 financial institutions and includes nearly 250,000 ATMs and approximately 3.4 million POS terminals. For information, visit www.discovercard.com, www.discovernetwork.com, or www.pulse-eft.com.

About TRANSFIRST
A premier provider of transaction processing services and payment enabling technologies, TRANSFIRST offers a first-rate suite of products and services and customized processing programs uniquely tailored for the special business needs of financial institutions, independent sales organizations and agents and its referral and reseller partners. Through its in-depth industry knowledge, partnership strategy and innovative solutions, TRANSFIRST provides a specialized approach to transaction processing for healthcare providers, public entities, online and other non-traditional merchants, as well as brick and mortar retailers. Founded in 1995, TRANSFIRST is a market leader in strategic mergers and acquisitions, which has allowed the company to gain significant market share and world-class expertise in growing and profitable industry segments. Built on a platform of personal service, customer commitment and flexible pricing, TRANSFIRST is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has operations facilities in Louisville, Colo., Omaha, Neb., Kansas City, Kan., Newport Beach, Calif., Milwaukee, Wis. and Langhorne, Penn. Company wide, TRANSFIRST currently processes approximately $22 billion in annual sales volume for more than 160,000 merchants and more than 965 financial institutions. TRANSFIRST can be reached at 1-800-745-2659 or at www.TRANSFIRST.com.