Cards Briefs: Hypercom Opens Subsidiary in Germany

Hypercom Corp. said it has opened an office in Frankfurt, its first in Germany, with Thomas E. Koch as general manager of the Hypercom GmbH subsidiary.

Mr. Koch, formerly sales and marketing manager of Citibank's European card acceptance department, will be responsible to distribution channels and strategic relationships in Germany. Hypercom said Germany is the third-largest market in number of payment cards, and a sizable health-benefits card program is influencing a modernization of the payments infrastructure.

The company hopes to gain market share by drawing on "Thomas Koch's strong payments background and in-depth experience in the German electronic transactions market," said Ted Satchell, senior vice president of the European transaction systems group. The appointment is indicative of "our aggressive expansion plans throughout Europe."

Mr. Koch has also worked for the consulting firm Langfeld & Ashley as well as for Deutsche Bank, Avis Corp., and the Jack Wolfskin retailing organization.

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