Avis Transfers Commercial MasterCard Program from PHH to Wright Express
26 January 2000
Avis Transfers Commercial MasterCard Program from PHH to Wright Express
GARDEN CITY, N.Y., Jan. 25 -- Avis Rent A Car, Inc., today
announced that the Company has transferred the commercial MasterCard program
developed by PHH Vehicle Management Services to Wright Express. The transfer
is in line with Avis' strategic goal to pursue synergies between operating
units.
In 1997, PHH Vehicle Management Services introduced the industry's first
integrated MasterCard-branded payment solution for fleet, travel,
entertainment, and purchasing expenses. The product experienced dramatic
growth by giving corporate users the first real-time, Internet-based
management information system merging all spending categories into a single
data warehouse.
According to Mark E. Miller, President of Avis' Vehicle Management
Services Group, "Our commercial MasterCard program has made great strides
based on the competitive advantage of its functionality and management
information system. Wright Express is a world-class card organization with
over 20,000 corporate clients and over 2.5 million cards in service growing at
over 30% annually. This combination is a natural progression for Wright
Express, adding a powerful new product offering to its toolkit of solutions
for helping companies manage expenses."
The transfer of the commercial MasterCard program to Wright Express took
effect January 1, 2000. Conversion of the portfolio will be completed by
mid-year. The company has approximately 4 million cards in circulation, which
is second only to American Express.
About the Program
This innovative, multi-purpose corporate MasterCard program was developed
and marketed by PHH's Cendant Business Services division over the past three
years.
The MasterCard program covers travel and entertainment, purchasing, and
fleet expenses. It offers industry-leading functionality based on the
MasterCard platform, expense management capability, and financial allocation
tools.
Comprehensive, integrated information is delivered to clients via the
Internet. For the MasterCard program, Wright Express will now have available
the same data warehousing/Internet technology that has netted PHH numerous
awards and recognition, including recently being named one of Information
Week's top 100 E-commerce applications. Clients have online reporting,
cardholder access, query and account maintenance capabilities at their
fingertips any time, from any Internet browser on virtually a real-time basis.
About Wright Express
Wright Express, an Avis Company, currently offers a wide range of
vehicle-based commercial fleet cards to control fleet expenses for fuel and
vehicle parts and services. The addition of the MasterCard program represents
a significant expansion of Wright Express' line of purchasing and financial
management products.
Wright Express Financial Services Company, an Industrial Loan Corporation
in Salt Lake City, Utah, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Wright Express, will
be the issuing bank for the MasterCard products. Wright Express will support
program operations, client servicing, product strategy and development, and
sales and marketing.
In addition to strategic and direct sales efforts, Wright Express will
make these products available to the company's existing Co-brand and Private
Label partners and Universal Fleet card customers as well as its new partners
and customers.
Michael Dubyak, President and CEO of Wright Express, says, "This move
provides Wright Express with a full array of commercial card products for its
customers and partners. Now, in addition to our core vehicle card program, we
can offer a fleet, or a partner's fleet, a driver card solution, and even
capabilities to manage their corporation's purchasing and T&E requirements. No
one else can offer the options and flexibility that Wright Express does for
full, commercial card capabilities".
Wright Express is a leading provider of information management, payment
processing and financial services to car, van and truck fleets throughout the
United States. The Wright Express Universal Fleet Card is the industry's most
widely accepted electronic universal fleet card. In addition to its own card,
Wright Express supports private label cards for 29 oil companies and cobranded
cards for 27 card partners.
Avis is one of the world's leading providers of comprehensive automotive
transportation and vehicle management solutions, with strengths in car rental,
vehicle leasing, and vehicle management services. Avis operates the second
largest general-use car rental business in the world, with locations in the
United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Latin American Caribbean
region. Avis operates the vehicle management and fuel card businesses through
three separate units: PHH North America, PHH Europe and Wright Express. The
services of these units consist of vehicle leasing and a broad range of
vehicle related fee-based services. The Company manages a fleet of
approximately 1 million vehicles and has over 4 million fuel and maintenance
cards outstanding. Annually, on a pro forma basis, the Company generates
approximately $4.0 billion in total revenue.
For additional information and news, please log onto the Avis Web Site
(http://www.avis.com) or call Company News on Call (800-758-5804, access code
#078975).