by Joseph Kenny | 07/27/08

Credibanco, a Columbian credit card company and payment network that is part of Visa International, has recently purchased more than 18,000 electronic payment systems from VeriFone Holdings, Inc. VeriFone has made this announcement, which should be of interest to its stockholders, earlier today.

Credibanco services many banks in the country of Colombia with approximately 53,000 points of sale, including at automated terminals. Their payment network is like a web spread out between 17 major cities in Columbia, and 385 municipalities - a substantial chunk of the country. The company serves as an intermediary between Columbian banks and other financial institutions, vendors who utilize credit card services, and the users of credit cards themselves.

Credibanco has even cooperated with the World Bank. It was part of a program that was designed to help banks service persons of low income, and to help small business get access to point-of -sale terminals.

Credibanco asserts that VeriFone's advanced and reliable point-of-sale technology is the perfect match for Credibanco's long-term goals and plans. Everyone, it seems, will benefit from this deal, which has involved the sale of 18,700 top-of-the-line LAN, dialup, and GPRS machines since the month of November, 2007. VeriFone had previously - in June of 2007 - sold slightly under 9,000 machines to Credibanco.

VeriFone is pleased with the deal as well. Fernando Lopez, who is in charge of the company's activities in the Caribbean and Latin America, has been quoted giving a very good prognosis of the future relationship between the two companies. He expressed surprise at how fast the bond between the two companies was formed.

Verifone (NYSE: PAY) has led the world in the manufacture of secure devices for making electronic payments. These devices have been documented to increase sales and thus increase the revenue generated in many markets and industries, including retail and health care.