Owase City, Mie Prefecture, credit card payment for water bills,
GMO-PG's "public fund Credit card payment Service" is introduced!

March 3, 2008

Owase City, Mie Prefecture (Mayor: Yoshihisa Ito) has decided to introduce credit card payment for water bills in order to improve the convenience of Owase citizens.

Regarding the introduction of credit card payment, JCB Co., Ltd. (Representative Director and President & CEO: Tamio Takakura, hereinafter referred to as "JCB"), Hyakugo DCC Card Co., Ltd. (Representative Director: Masataka Tanaka, hereinafter referred to as "Hyakugo DC"), and Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd. (President & Chief Executive Officer: Kazuhiro Omori, hereinafter referred to as "Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS") have partnered with three credit card companies. From April 2008, Owase citizens can use all cards with international brands such as JCB, VISA, and MasterCard, as well as DC cards, UFJ cards, and NICOS cards for payment of water bills.

In addition, we will use the "public fund Credit card payment Service" of GMO Payment Gateway Co., Ltd. (President & Chief Executive Officer: Issei Ainoura, hereinafter referred to as GMO-PG) for data processing services related to credit card payments.

Currently, the payment of taxes and fees at local municipalities nationwide is based on cash payment at financial institution Account transfer and municipal counters, as well as payment at convenience stores. With the recent spread of Credit card payment, the usage scene has expanded to fields closely related to daily life scenes, such as electricity, gas, and utility charge payment such as NHK, and the need for credit payment in public fund fields such as water bills has also increased.

In response to the revision of the Local Autonomy Act in November 2006, Owase City began to consider diversifying the payment option of water bills, and has decided to introduce credit card payment for water bills with the aim of improving citizen services and improving the efficiency of collection operations.

Credit card payment for water bills is available to all citizens living in Owase City. By registering your credit card information with Owase City in advance according to the prescribed application form, you will be able to continue to pay with that card. Not only those who are making new payments, but also those who have already paid at Account transfer or bank counters can change to payment by credit card.

Owase City will continue to actively work to improve citizen services.

JCB, Hyakugo DC, and Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS will continue to promote the spread of Credit card payment in various public fund fields such as taxes and fees, and GMO-PG will support administrative agencies in improving resident services and improving the efficiency of collection operations by promoting the dissemination and promotion of "public fund Credit card payment services" that can be easily introduced with ASP.