Equifax And SearsCard Announce Joint Venture

ATLANTA, April 1, 1998 -- Equifax today announced the formation of a joint venture company with Sears Financial Services Ltd. (SearsCard). The result will be the creation of a world-class cardholder and merchant processing operation. (SearsCard is a subsidiary of the Sears Group in the United Kingdom; it is not affiliated with Sears, Roebuck and Company in the United States.)

The new joint venture company, which will be based out of SearsCard's operations center in Solihull, Birmingham, England, will use the expert customer service skills of SearsCard in combination with the advanced processing capabilities of U.S.-based Equifax Card Solutions. It will provide a full service capability for the third party management of Visa and Mastercard Bankcard, Retail, Debit and Travel and Entertainment programs in the UK and Ireland. It will also operate a fully managed merchant processing service. Equifax will own 51 percent of the new company; SearsCard will own 49 percent.

SearsCard, established in 1984, currently operates 1.5 million customer credit cards for members of the Sears Group, including Selfridges, Wallis and Adams Childrenswear. SearsCard also services credit cards for other leading retailers in the UK such as Sports Division.

Equifax Card Solutions is the third largest cardholder processor in the United States, handling more than 21 million cardholders. Lee A. Kennedy, Equifax executive vice president and group executive, said, "The establishment of this joint venture company allows Equifax to further extend its full service card management services throughout the world. We believe significant opportunity exists within the European market for a leading edge alternative to existing providers within the retail and bankcard markets. The combination of SearsCard expertise and application of Equifax innovative technology and large scale processing will ensure an unbeatable team."

Sir Bob Reid, chairman of Sears, said, "This alliance offers us a unique opportunity to accelerate the growth of SearsCard. Through this joint venture we will be able to focus on our core competencies of credit provision, marketing and information services while achieving an improvement in our processing systems and services to customers and third parties."

Equifax's worldwide knowledge-based information, transaction processing, consulting and software businesses are designed to bring buyers and sellers together, thus changing the shape of global commerce. Equifax serves the banking, financial, retail, credit card, telecommunications/utilities, automotive, government and health care industries. It is a leading supplier of business information solutions in Canada, the UK and Latin America. Equifax operates in 17 countries with sales in more than 40 countries. Founded in 1899 in Atlanta, Equifax (NYSE: EFX) today has 10,000 employees around the world. Revenues for the 12 months ended December 31, 1997, were $1.4 billion. Visit the company's Internet web site at http://www.equifax.com.