Earthport Regulatory News (EPO)

12 January 2016

Earthport plc

("Earthport", the "Company" or the "Group")

Launch of the Distributed Ledger Hub

Earthport extends its global payment services to provide single point of access to the full Distributed Ledger ecosystem

Earthport (AIM: EPO.L), the leading payment network for cross-border transactions, known for its operation of a large global ACH infrastructure, today announces further expansion of its growing capabilities with the launch of its Distributed Ledger Hub (DLH). The DLH is a service accessed through Earthport's Distributed Ledger Gateway, announced in August of 2015, that will provide full connectivity into the Ripple distributed ledger protocol, including private Ripple instances, Ripple market makers, and in time, other Distributed Ledgers.

Building on Earthport's Distributed Ledger Gateway, the new Hub will offer a solution for banks which are increasingly challenged with the competing constraints of lower budgets and the need to keep up with radical changes in technology. Through DLH, Earthport's clients can gain access to the full benefits of Distributed Ledger Technology at minimal effort and cost through a single Application Programming Interface ("API"); an offering Earthport believes to be an industry first.

The extended service will simplify and accelerate the adoption and implementation of Distributed Ledger Technologies for the banking community - allowing banks to swiftly move into this new world of payments without additional heavy investment in infrastructure, compliance or operational requirements. This is achieved via full access to the Ripple ecosystem through a single contract, a single technical integration, and a single service relationship.

In addition to Ripple, through the same API, clients can access all payment methods offered by Earthport in over 60 countries in a fast and highly cost effective manner, following the same rigorous compliance processes used in all Earthport transactions. Earthport's services in the DLH are conducted entirely in Fiat currency with no use of crypto currencies.

This development aligns directly with Earthport's core mission to provide access to as many countries, currencies, accounts and payment types as possible through a single API.

Hank Uberoi, CEO, Earthport, commented, "It is our belief that there may be different ledgers that gain traction over time - some will have a regional affiliation, and some may be more aligned by industry sector. Banks will need to have access to a growing universe of different ledgers to serve their own clients, further complicating their technical roadmaps. Earthport, in consultation with its clients, will grow the Hub to encompass different ledgers as needed, all available via a single Earthport API."

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 About Earthport:

Earthport plc is a financial services organisation providing cross-border payments services to banks, e-commerce providers, money transfer companies and payment administrators. Earthport is headquartered in London with regional offices in New York, Miami, Dubai and Singapore.

One of the FinTech50 2015 - judged to be the game-changers transforming the future of finance - Earthport is also the winner of the Grant Thornton Quoted Company Awards 2015 Technology company of the year award and FStech/Retail Systems' B2B Payments Innovation of the Year (2014).

Earthport provides the industry with access to a global payment network through a single contract, a single technical integration, and a single service relationship. Worldwide, over 50 banks are connected into Earthport's network for the efficient clearing of low value payments. Through a single relationship, clients benefit from sophisticated validation, message transformation and compliance services, efficiently serving their customers with more innovative payment products.

Earthport is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on the London Stock Exchange. Earthport plc is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Payment Service Regulations 2009 for the provision of payment services. Find out more at www.earthport.com and on Twitter @Earthport, LinkedIn, Youtube, Slideshare and Google+.