I am very delighted to represent Euronet at Pakistan's premier Euronet E-Banking conference and exhibition. In its 10th year, Euronet E-Banking presents an excellent opportunity for the entire industry to sit together and share the successes, the experiences and the latest innovations both locally and around the world for the common benefit of everyone.
At Euronet, we bring currency to life in over 150 countries world-wide. Since 1994, our goal is to make currency more convenient by providing consumers world-wide with secure and convenient solutions to make transaction any time, any place. And in the last 18 years Euronet has established itself as a global leader in electronic transaction processing, innovative prepaid products and money transfer.
In 2011, Euronet processed transactions amounting to US $73 billion globally including EFT, prepaid and money transfer payments. Serving over 300 financial institutions across 150 countries, our 3,800 employees world-wide strive to develop synergistic products that are both secure, innovative and bring convenience to thousands of banking customers world-wide.
In December 2010, we started our operations in Pakistan and in a short span of time we are credited with establishing the 1st PCI DSS certified EFT processing centre in Pakistan running a PA DSS certified application and backed by a dedicated team of specialists 24 x 7. Euronet Pakistan is also the first service bureau in Pakistan offering secure and cost effective outsourced EFT processing services. In October 2011, we launched the first EMV Debit Card in Pakistan for one of our hosted customers.
The secret to all of this is a successful outsourced model that lets the bank focus on its core business while Euronet focuses on the technological aspects of making it happen in the most cost effective and efficient manner. Sitting at the heart of our EFT processing systems is the Euronet Integrated Transaction Manager (ITM) which is capable of processing more than 44 million transactions per hour and which has a highly configurable interface module diminishing the need to go back to the drawing board every time a new system is added.
We have entered the Pakistani market with the same vigor and enthusiasm that is the hallmark of Euronet globally and our mission here is to bring newer payment methods such as Near Field Communication, Contactless Debit Cards, Branchless Banking and Mobile Banking so that our Pakistani customers can enjoy the same level of convenience in electronic transactions that is available elsewhere in the world.
Euronet is actively participating in this event with speakers, panellists while at the same time showcasing its products and services for the local market. I wish the organisers of the Euronet E-Banking Conference & Exhibition, the fellow exhibitors, speakers, panellists with success and I hope that our local industry benefits from the knowledge that will be shared in this event. In the end I would just like to reiterate that we are a global company but with a local perspective and we are here to stay!