Earthport wins deal from US bank PNC

Cross-border payment service provider Earthport saw its shares rise after it won a contract of undisclosed value with the US banking arm of New York-listed PNC Financial Services Group.Earthport, whose service is designed to handle high volumes of low value payments, said it would supply banking services in the consumer, corporate and small business sectors under the deal with PNC's PNC Bank.Earthport's Chief Executive Hank Uberoi said: "PNC is amongst a number of large financial institutions choosing Earthport."Broker Panmure Gordon said: "This is another significant financial institution choosing Earthport, which is encouraging and underlines its growing influence in its market. We re-iterate our 'buy' recommendation and target price of 52p."Shares in Earthport rose 1.75p or 4.7% to 39p at 11:28 in London.PW