HEREFORD company Allpay has signed one of the biggest business deals ever done in the county, making it a major player in a massive global market.

The Whitestone-based company has secured accreditation to become one of the elite production centres used by MasterCard, the worldwide payment processor.

Allpay has spent £2 million on state-of-the-art work at its base to manufacture more than 50 million personalised MasterCards a year.

Allpay already handles about £2.8 billion a year for clients of its public and private sector payment schemes and regularly ranks among the UK’s best performing companies.

But Allpay boss Tony Killeen said the MasterCard accreditation, one of only seven issued in the UK so far, was a “huge milestone” for the firm, which started in a single office in Hereford only 13 years ago.

The technology and security in place at Whitestone allows Allpay to meet all MasterCard’s chip and PIN needs. Allpay itself is targeting middle market card issuers – one level down from the major banks – and their bespoke requirements.

Allpay operations director Mark Thomas said: “There was a need for an alternative provider committed to high performance and on-time delivery. We believe we have positioned ourselves ideally to meet this need.”