COCONUT CREEK, FL - National Payment Card Association (NPCA), provider of merchant-branded PIN-based debit payments solutions, announced an aggressive expansion into the grocery/supermarket vertical sector. NPCA will be bringing its lower interchange solution to this new sector in the midst of its explosive growth in the convenience store industry.

With the Federal Reserve??s recent announcement on debit card interchange rules, retailers in a variety of business verticals are in the process of assessing how best to respond. NPCA says that it's likely that banks will seek to recoup their lost interchange by pushing consumers away from debit to higher interchange products, and that this action will be a serious threat to merchants.

"Since 2004, National Payment Card Association has been providing merchant branded debit cards in the petroleum/c-store sector and we are now expanding rapidly into the supermarket and grocery sector," said NPCA President Joe Randazza. "Our product is PIN-based, available on the rails of existing PIN networks such as Pulse, secure, and guaranteed. There are no chargebacks and settlement funds are received the next business day."

In addition to being a payment product, NPCA??s solution works in the same way a bank issued debit card does, with no POS changes required. The NPCA solution provides:

• Merchant-branded online enrollment engine
• Consumer portal with 24/7 access
• Merchant portal with a robust set of databases and business analytical tools
• Email engine that delivers communications to cardholders for confirming purchases and one you can leverage for special offers or incentives
• Information that belongs to the retailer and not the bank

"Our goal is to empower merchants and retailers and in presenting our solution we can show them what they can do for themselves to protect their profits and to build loyalty," said Randazza.