Loblaw Joins Ugo™ as First Retailer and Loyalty Program Partner

TORONTO, Nov. 6, 2013 /CNW/ - PC Financial and TD today announced Ugo™, Canada's first open mobile wallet to combine multiple payment and loyalty programs in one convenient and secure mobile solution. Canada's largest retailer, Loblaw Companies Limited has joined as its first retail partner and also brings the PC Plus™ loyalty program into the wallet.

Ugo™ will provide Canadians with a more convenient, value-add way to shop and transact with their favourite retailers by allowing users to replace cards from their physical wallet with a simple and secure mobile payment method that automatically links to loyalty programs.

"President's Choice Financial is always seeking to make banking simple and better for our customers, and Ugo™ is another example of good banking for PC Financial® MasterCard® customers," said Barry Columb, President of President's Choice Financial. "It will allow them to easily and conveniently use their President's Choice Financial® MasterCard®, while also earning and redeeming their PC® points in one single tap transaction at their favourite Loblaw or banner store locations."

"We are very excited to be teaming up with PC Financial to develop Ugo™, the first collaboration of its kind between two Canadian banks. We're also thrilled to be able to offer one of Canada's most popular retail loyalty programs by welcoming Loblaw as our first retail partner," said Teri Currie, Group Head, Direct Channels, Corporate Shared Services, Marketing and People Strategies, TD Bank Group. "Consumers carry their mobile phone everywhere they go; Ugo™ allows us to stay with them and is a natural extension of TD's long history of delivering comfort and convenience to our customers."

With Ugo™, consumers will be able to pay, earn and redeem loyalty points in a single tap using their smartphones. This innovative solution offers functionality that could ultimately replace the need to carry a physical wallet.

"Loblaw is always looking for new ways to improve the shopping experience in our stores and Ugo™ takes this to the next step by giving customers a faster, more convenient way to perform their everyday transactions," said Vicente Trius, President of Loblaw Companies Limited.

Ugo™ will initially allow customers to load their TD Visa, President's Choice Financial® MasterCard® and PC Plus™ cards into the wallet. PC® points can be redeemed at Loblaw and banner store locations. Ugo™ also plans to add more major partners, debit and gift card capabilities, loyalty programs and product offers in the future.

Ugo™ leverages existing near field communication (NFC) technology to process payments and will be available for use on Blackberry and Android NFC-enabled devices, with additional platforms planned for future releases. Initial Ugo™ features include:

• Ability to combine TD Visa and President's Choice Financial® MasterCard® with PC® points in one open mobile wallet;
• Quick, single tap-and-go technology that provides the ability to pay and to earn and redeem loyalty points at point-of-sale;
• The security features found on customers' existing credit cards and peace of mind with additional mobile wallet security features; and
• Ability to use Visa payWave® and MasterCard® Paypass™ where they are accepted globally.

Commercial availability of Ugo™ is slated for the spring of 2014.

About President's Choice Financial
President's Choice Financial services are a unique financial service offering designed by Loblaw Companies Limited. The President's Choice Financial® MasterCard® is provided by President's Choice Bank, while banking services are provided by another Canadian financial institution. For more information visit www.pcfinancial.ca or follow us on Twitter @pcfinancial.

About TD Bank Group (TSX, NYSE: TD)
The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries are collectively known as TD Bank Group (TD). TD is the sixth largest bank in North America by branches and serves approximately 22 million customers in four key businesses operating in a number of locations in key financial centres around the globe: Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking, including TD Canada Trust and TD Auto Finance Canada; Wealth and Insurance, including TD Wealth, TD Direct Investing, an investment in TD Ameritrade, and TD Insurance; U.S. Personal and Commercial Banking, including TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank and TD Auto Finance U.S.; and Wholesale Banking, including TD Securities. TD also ranks among the world's leading online financial services firms, with approximately 8 million active online and mobile customers. TD had CDN$835 billion in assets on July 31, 2013. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD" on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges.

About Loblaw Companies Limited (TSX: L)
Loblaw Companies Limited, a subsidiary of George Weston Limited, is Canada's largest food retailer and a leading provider of drugstore, general merchandise and financial products and services. Loblaw is one of the largest private sector employers in Canada. With more than 1,000 corporate and franchised stores from coast to coast, Loblaw and its franchisees employ more than 134,000 full-time and part-time employees. Through its portfolio of store formats, Loblaw is committed to providing Canadians with a wide, growing and successful range of products and services to meet the everyday household demands of Canadian consumers. Loblaw is known for the quality, innovation and value of its food offering. It offers Canada's strongest control (private) label program, including the unique President's Choice®, no name® and Joe Fresh® brands. In addition, the Company makes available to consumers President's Choice Financial® services and offers the PC® points and PC Plus™ loyalty program.

SOURCE TD Bank Group

Image with caption: "PC Financial and TD Announce Ugo™ - Canada's First Open Mobile Wallet (CNW Group/TD Bank Group)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20131106_C4573_PHOTO_EN_33019.jpg