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Employees at one of the biggest businesses in Solihull town centre have raised more than £40,000 to nominated charities in 2011 and over £85,000 since the launch of their Make A Difference programme in 2008.

Staff at LaSer UK, a leading provider of consumer finance and loyalty services, organised a packed year of fundraising including fashion shows and sports events as part of its ‘Make a Difference’ CSR programme, with their Solihull office raising over £25,000 and Belfast over £15,000.

They also spent time volunteering in the local community, including mentoring business students at local schools and colleges. The company implemented a ‘Make a Difference Day’ for the first time in 2011, where each employee was encouraged to spend a day working in the local community during working hours.

Richard Smithies, at LaSer UK, said: “This is a fantastic achievement by everybody in the company. Since the launch of our Make a Difference programme LaSer UK employees have raised over £85,000 for nominated charities, as well as taking the time to volunteer in the local community. 

“This year, we will have donated over 280 hours of staff time working with local schools, colleges and community groups.  Much of the work we have done here is about preparing young people for the world of work and doing what we can to maximise their chances of successful employment in the future.

“In 2011 we were able to create greater opportunities for employees to engage with the local community and we are looking forward to continuing to build on the success of our Make a Difference programme again in 2012.”

Craig Burchell, Regional Fundraising Manager at Teenage Cancer Trust, said: “We are very grateful for all of the marvellous fundraising efforts of everybody at LaSer UK. They have been a pleasure to work with and this donation will go towards our work to educate and support teenagers fighting cancer.”

LaSer UK has won the prestigious Card & Payments Award for Best CRM Programme for the second year in succession.

The Solihull-based provider of consumer finance and loyalty services picked up the prize for its Flybe double points campaign, beating off strong competition from American Express, Barclaycard, Santander, the Co-Operative Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.

LaSer UK was also named as a finalist in the Best Credit Card Marketing Campaign category for its Early Bird Campaign with Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Lisa Simcox, Marketing Director at LaSer UK said: “This is fantastic recognition for everybody, and again LaSer UK’s strength in terms of combining customer insight and creative marketing has been recognised as we beat off competition from some major organisations.”

“The award comes at a particularly exciting time for LaSer UK as we use these skills to launch a fantastic range of credit cards and personal loans under our Creation brand.”

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Solihull firm teams up with loyalty division of global hotel company to offer improved benefits for customers

Solihull-based credit and loyalty solutions provider, LaSer UK, has teamed up with Marriott Rewards® to launch a new, improved credit card that gives customers the chance to earn Marriott Rewards points faster and enjoy a host of additional benefits.

The new World™ MasterCard® from Marriott Rewards, the loyalty division of international hotel company Marriott International, Inc., has been launched in partnership with LaSer UK, and MasterCard.

The card, which is the latest in LaSer UK’s portfolio of co-branded credit cards, offers 0% on balance transfers for 12 months (on balances transferred within 90 days of account opening) and Marriott Rewards points on all purchases, which can be redeemed for free hotel stays, leisure breaks, airline miles, merchandise and upgrades.

Stephen Hunt, CEO, LaSer UK comments: “This improved card from a prestigious global brand offers better rewards for frequent travellers with a host of benefits. We are delighted to be able to provide such a strong card offer for Marriott Rewards and to expand our strong offering of co-branded affinity cards.”

Ed French, senior vice president, Marriott Rewards, said: "We are excited to offer our UK Marriott Rewards members a credit card that allows them to earn points faster. We know our members look for a card that will provide them with the greatest value and the Marriott Rewards MasterCard from LaSer UK is designed specifically for them."

More information about the card can be found at www.MarriottRewardsCreditCard.co.uk.
 

Notes for Editors:

About LaSer UK
LaSer UK is part of the LaSer Group, jointly owned by BNP Paribas, the global retail and investment bank, and Galeries Lafayette, Europe’s leading retailer. From its Solihull office, LaSer UK provides a range of credit and loyalty services, including credit cards, store cards, loyalty programmes and retail finance products. LaSer UK operates as Creation Financial Services, Creation Consumer Finance and Sygma Bank UK.

The company has operations in Solihull and Belfast employing over 740 people and has developed 40 years experience of working with UK businesses and consumers and currently manages more than 4 million customers and over 200 UK partnerships, financing over £1.4 billion in credit per annum. Its operations are UK based with operational centres in Solihull and Belfast and its current clients include Flybe, Everton FC, Selfridges & Co, M&Co, All Saints, Dell, Dixons Retail, DFS, ScS, Dreams, Sharps, Sony, and Ultralase.
For more information go to www.laseruk.com

About Marriott Rewards®
Marriott Rewards is free to join. The program has no blackout dates and members can earn and redeem points at more than 3,500 Marriott® International hotels around the world. Members may also choose to earn airline miles or redeem points for miles with more than 30 airline mileage programs. In addition to hotels and frequent flyer miles, members can also redeem points for merchandise, cruises, car rentals and more.

Marriott Rewards won the 2011 and 2010 Frequent Travel Award and 2009 Freddie Award for “Best Hotel Rewards Program,” and has been named best hotel rewards program by the readers of Business Traveler, Global Traveler, Executive Travel and BusinessWeek magazines.
For more information visit www.MarriottRewards.co.uk

Media Enquiries:
Media enquiries to Tom Leatherbarrow or Peter Hitchman at Willoughby PR on 0121 456 3004 or toml@willoughby-pr.co.uk/peterh@willoughby-pr.co.uk
 

LaSer UK has been shortlisted for two prestigious Card & Payments Awards, for Best Credit Card Marketing Campaign of the Year and Best CRM Programme.

The leading credit and loyalty services provider, which scooped a Card & Payments Award in last year’s ceremony, will once again go up against global card providers Santander, American Express and Barclaycard at the 2012 awards, as well as Co-Operative Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.

LaSer UK has been shortlisted in the 2012 Awards for Best Credit Card Marketing Campaign of the Year for its Early Bird Campaign with Wolverhampton Wanderers, and for Best CRM Programme for its Flybe Double Points Campaign.

In 2011 it won Best CRM Programme for its successful VIP Customer Campaign with leading ladies fashion retailer M&Co.

Lisa Simcox, Sales and Marketing Director, said: “It is a fantastic achievement to be shortlisted for two awards in such a prestigious ceremony and shows both the quality and strength of our loyalty, data and marketing expertise.”

Sixteen LaSer UK employees formed part of a 15,000 strong crowd of runners that took to the streets of Birmingham on Sunday 23rd October, running 13.1 miles (21km) in aid of our nominated charity Teenage Cancer Trust.

The team was formed as part of the LaSer UK Make a Difference programme, which encourages wellbeing in the workplace and gives employees the opportunity to support charitable causes.

Even though most of the group were new to running and had never taken on anything like a half marathon before, everyone made it across the finishing line in good time and all were still smiling as they crossed it.

Andrea Pullen, Communications Executive at LaSer UK, said: “Crossing the finishing line of the half marathon was one of the proudest moments of my life.

“When I started training three months ago I could barely run half a mile, and for a long time I just couldn’t see how I would ever be able to run 13.1 miles. But I ran the whole half marathon in a time that I’m very pleased with, proving that anyone who sets their mind to something can achieve it!

“The atmosphere on the day was incredible and the supporters lining the streets really put a smile on my face as they shouted encouragement and handed out sweets and water. I’m already making plans to take part again next year as I want to relive the huge high.”

Richard Smithies, sponsor of LaSer UK’s Make A Difference Committee added “It was a fantastic achievement by everybody involved and a further demonstration of what we can achieve through our Make a Difference programme.”

The fundraising brings the total raised so far for Teenage Cancer Trust, which was nominated by employees at the Solihull HQ as the charity of the year for 2011, to £17,640 with many more activities planned throughout the year.

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Notes for Editors:

About LaSer UK
LaSer UK is part of the LaSer Group, jointly owned by BNP Paribas, the global retail and investment bank, and Galeries Lafayette, Europe’s leading retailer. From its Solihull office, LaSer UK provides a range of credit and loyalty services, including credit cards, store cards, loyalty programmes and fixed term credit products. LaSer UK operates as Creation Financial Services, Creation Consumer Finance and Sygma Bank UK. 

The company has operations in Solihull and Belfast employing over 740 people and has developed almost 40 years experience of working with UK consumers and currently manages more than 4 million customers and over 200 UK partnerships, financing over £1.4 billion in credit per annum. Its operations are UK based with operational centres in Solihull and Belfast and its current clients include Flybe, Everton FC, Selfridges & Co, M&Co, All Saints, Dell, Dixons Retail, DFS, ScS, Dreams, Argos, Homebase, and Ultralase.

For more information go to www.laseruk.com

Leading credit, loyalty and retail finance solutions provider, LaSer UK, has secured a deal to provide point of sale finance services for the UK’s leading fitted furniture specialist, Sharps Bedrooms.

Under the partnership, LaSer UK will provide innovative retail finance solutions that will provide Sharps customers with a convenient and flexible way to spread the cost of their purchase.

With 40 years of working with retailers across sectors including furniture, electrical and home improvement LaSer UK’s ‘Easicredit’ solution has been developed with unique features designed to help retailers increase sales and reduce costs.

Dave Fletcher, Director of Sales for LaSer UK, said: “We are excited to be working with Sharps and to develop the partnership further over the coming months and years. This is a significant win for LaSer UK and we are proud to help Sharps to meet its own objectives, and those of its customers.”

“Our point of sale finance solutions are part of a wide range of products we offer to furniture retailers in what is becoming a strong sector for LaSer UK. Our loyalty solutions and proven, paperless finance solution for e-retailers have also proved popular and we are looking forward to building on our strong credentials in this sector.”

Tim Moore, Marketing Director at Sharps, comments: “In this difficult climate, finance plans are of huge benefit to many customers as they can remove one of the barriers that often stops people from making a purchase.”

“LaSer UK offers competitive APR rates which was a crucial point for us when choosing our new finance provider, particularly given the current market conditions. We are looking forward to working in partnership with LaSer UK to support our business growth.”

As part of its continued commitment to the communities in which it operates, LaSer UK has forged links with Solihull College, working on a number of projects to help bring young people into employment and provide learning opportunities for its employees.

LaSer UK, the credit, loyalty and retail finance services provider, employees more than 500 people in Solihull town centre and is active in its Make A Difference CSR programme. Staff are actively encouraged to get involved in fundraising and volunteering activities to benefit the local community.

Throughout the partnership LaSer UK and Solihull College have worked together providing NVQ training for employees, mentoring programmes and Business Enterprise schemes for students.

In recognition of its support, Solihull College invited LaSer UK to present an award at its celebration of achievement ceremony. Conor Cubitt, Chief Operating Officer, presented the LaSer UK Award to Hayley Cowley who graduated with a Degree in Business, Management and Communications with a distinction.

Conor Cubitt said: “Our Make a Difference programme gives employees the platform to support local communities and organisations, whether volunteering for charitable organisations or taking time to support and mentor local academic and business talent. I was delighted to present the award to Hayley and it was a fitting ceremony for so many young people that have achieved great things at Solihull College.”
 

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Notes for Editors:

About LaSer UK

LaSer UK is part of the LaSer Group, jointly owned by BNP Paribas, the global retail and investment bank, and Galeries Lafayette, Europe’s leading retailer. From its Solihull office, LaSer UK provides a range of credit and loyalty services, including credit cards, store cards, loyalty programmes and fixed term credit products. LaSer UK operates as Creation Financial Services, Creation Consumer Finance and Sygma Bank UK.

The company has operations in Solihull and Belfast employing over 740 people and has developed 40 years experience of working with UK consumers and currently manages more than 4 million customers and over 200 UK partnerships, financing over £1.4 billion in credit per annum. Its operations are UK based with operational centres in Solihull and Belfast and its current clients include Flybe, Everton FC, Selfridges & Co, M&Co, All Saints, Dell, Dixons Retail, DFS, ScS, Dreams, Argos, Homebase, and Ultralase.

For more information go to laseruk.com

Media Enquiries:
Media enquiries to Tom Leatherbarrow or Peter Hitchman at Willoughby PR on 0121 456 3004 or toml@willoughby-pr.co.uk/peterh@willoughby-pr.co.uk