(23) Concentrations of Business and Credit Risk  (24) Research and Development  (25) Employee Loans for Common Stock Program  (26) Sale of Croatian Network  (27) Employee Benefit Plans  4 4 E u ronet has established a Profit Sharing and 401(k) plan for all employees who have completed six months of service and are not otherw i s e c o v e red by a re t i rement benefit plan (national or private) outside of the US. Each plan participant can contribute up to the maximum amount allowed by the Internal Revenue Service to the Plan through payroll deductions. Euro n e t ’s matching contribution to the plan is d i s c re t i o n a ry and is determined each year by the Board of Directors. The employee’s vested percentage re g a rding the employer’s contribution varies according to years of service. Euro n e t ’s contribution accrual to the Plan for the years ended December 31, 2000, 1999 and 1998 was $213,000, $159,000 and $26,000 re s p e c t i v e l y.  E u ronet maintains both a fully funded and self-funded health insurance programs, which cover all full-time employees and their families at no charge to the employees. In order to administer the self-funded program, Euronet has entered into a contractual agreement with a third p a rty administrator by which Euronet pays a monthly service fee to the administrator based upon employee enrollment participating in the self-funded plan. Euronet has also purchased a stop/loss insurance policy to limit Euro n e t ’s self-funded liability to $25,000 per employee per year and a total loss on all claims to approximately $31,000 per month.  On November 19, 1999, the Company completed the sale of its Croatian ATM network to Raiffeisenbank Austria, d.d., a Croatian financial institution (“RBA”), for consideration of $2.7 million. The carrying value of the Croatian assets was $2.0 million, resulting in a gain to the Company of $657,000, re c o rded as an offset to operating costs. Subsequent to the sale of the network assets, the Company and RBA entere d into an ATM services agreement whereby the Company will provide ATM management and other related services to RBA for an initial term of 15 years.  In October 1999 the Company’s Board of Directors approved and implemented a Loan Agreement Program (“Program”) for cert a i n employees under which the Company has loaned sums of money to participating employees in order for them to purchase shares of the C o m p a n y ’s stock on the open market. The shares are pledged to the Company to secure the loans. As of December 31, 2000 166,195 share s a re held by the Company as collateral for the loans. The loans carry five-year terms are non-recourse, non-interest bearing loans. The share s vest to the employees in five equal tranches of 20 percent of the shares for five years, commencing at the date each employee began employment with the Company. As the shares vest, the employees are entitled to pay off the loans and free the shares of the pledge. These loans are considered an award of stock options as the loans are non-recourse and the employee is not obligated to pay any interest on the loans. The loans have been accounted for as a separate component of stockholders’ deficit. In the event that any one of the employees defaults on the term of the loans, the shares received by the Company will be re c o rded as tre a s u ry stock.  The Company regularly engages in re s e a rch and development activities aimed at the development and delivery of new products, services and p rocesses to its customers including, but not limited to, bill payment and presentment, telephone banking products, applications for wire l e s s application protocol (“WAP”) enabled customer touch points, other wireless banking products, GSM mobile prepaid re c h a rge products AT M b rowser products and internet banking solutions as well as significant improvements to core software products.  The Company’s re s e a rch and development costs incurred for computer products to be sold, leased or otherwise marketed totaled $6.7 million, $3.2 million and $153,000 for the years ended December 31, 2000, 1999 and 1998, re s p e c t i v e l y. In 2000, $1.0 million was capitalized and appears on the Company’s balance sheet in prepaid expenses and other assets, net of accumulated amortization of $137,000. In 1999, $322,000 was capitalized, net of accumulated amortization of $70,000.  Cash and cash equivalents, and investment securities are placed with high-credit quality financial institutions or in short - t e rm duration, high-quality debt securities. Euronet does not re q u i re collateral or other security to support financial instruments subject to credit risk. Management believes that the credit risk associated with its financial instruments is minimal due to the control pro c e d u res which monitor c redit worthiness of customers and financial institutions. E u ronet is subject to concentrations of business and credit risk. Euro n e t ’s financial instruments mainly include trade accounts re c e i v a b l e s , cash and cash equivalents and investment securities. Euro n e t ’s customer base, although limited, includes the most significant intern a t i o n a l c a rd organizations and certain banks in the markets in which it operates. There f o re, the Company’s operations are directly affected by the financial condition of those entities. 