 Comex,
Gemplus and IBM to promote Card business leadership in
"Future Profit - NOW!" Forum
3 industry leaders to head discussions on key issues
facing the credit card and payments industry in Asia Pacific.
INDONESIA - 24 October 2002 - Commerce Exchange
(Comex), Asia's leading solutions provider of card and payment solutions,
will co-host the first Card Business Strategies & Solutions Forum,
themed "Future Profit - Now!" with IBM, the world's largest
information technology company, and Gemplus, the world's leading provider
of smart card solutions, at the Shangri-la Hotel in Jakarta on 28 October
2002. This is the first of a series of forums that will take place in
Asia Pacific, spanning Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines and Sri
Lanka.
The series of forums will bring thought leaders and industry standard-bearers
together to discuss the latest developments in the credit card and payments
fields with key members from the banking industry.
With the card business consistently growing at double-digit rates, credit
cards are a main driver of profitability for many banks in the Asia Pacific
region. This industry is currently facing rapid changes with the new standardizations
being set in increasing competition, cost processes and rapidly changing
technologies. To compete, banks need to improve their existing card center
strategies and payment solutions.
Said Mr Michael Yap, Comex's Chief Executive Officer: "We're happy
to be working together with Gemplus and IBM to host a program that is
uniquely tailored to suit the needs of the payments and credit card industry
in Asia. This program will focus on addressing key issues and providing
innovative yet practical solutions for banks in the region. Collectively,
we aim to provide banks with a compelling solution set."
The forums will present and discuss strategies and best practices for
managing the profitability of the credit cards and payments business by
driving sales, managing costs and helping banks adapt to the changing
standards and technologies. Alternate cost effective, open systems, outsourcing
services and smart card technologies are helping banks optimize their
business and manage costs more effectively. This is especially important
today with more and more banks competing for a greater share of the market.
Given the recent spate of card fraud internationally, there is a greater
need for more powerful and dynamic tools for card center managers to stay
one-step ahead of fraudsters. The forum will also address operational
issues like fraud management and chargebacks that impact the bottomline.
In addition, with the industry's imminent migration to the EMV (Europay,
MasterCard and Visa) payment standard, the migration to the system will
present its own issues. The conversion to this system and how card centers
can prepare for it will also be discussed.
This partnership between Comex, IBM and Gemplus will demonstrate how
banks can leverage on EMV opportunities, through supporting product differentiation
and new services that add real value to card programs which will generate
higher returns. Multi-application cards can transform basic EMV payment
cards into powerful service tools, enabling functions like loyalty, web
authentication, digital signatures and more.
Mr. Andrew Thio, Director, Field Marketing & Business Support, Gemplus,
added: "Since its founding in 1988, Gemplus has consistently been
an innovator in the field of smart cards, and we have seen the rapid changes
that both technology and legislation can accomplish. Today, there is little
room for any bank to stand still, while many are taking rapid strides
in improving themselves, as well as in providing excellent value-added
products for their customers in concert with smart card solutions providers."
Mr Steven Lau Puay Yeong, Sector Solutions Executive, Financial Services
Sector, IBM ASEAN/SA said: "Working together with our partners, Comex
and Gemplus, we bring a unique proposition to our banking customers who
are looking for secure electronic payment solutions. This integrated solution,
delivered by our combined teams of payments and technology experts, combined
with the flexibility of the models we offer -- be it for systems that
the banks choose to own and run themselves, or on a totally outsourced
environment -- is targeted to deliver the business value that our banking
customers are looking for.
About Comex
Commerce Exchange (Comex) is Asia's leading solutions provider for
the Commerce Value Chain, providing solutions for cards and payment, logistics
and trade.
Comex brings to customers more than 14 years of experience in developing
and implementing financial and card-based software solutions for banks
and financial institutions and 7 years of experience in developing, installing
and implementing cutting-edge software solutions for logistics companies
throughout Asia and Europe.
With more than 150 implementations in over 30 countries, our in-depth
domain knowledge enables us to streamline, automate and integrate the
business process flows of payment and logistics. Comex also provides complete
card-processing solutions to banks and financial institutions as well
as solution development and information technology consulting for the
logistics industry.
Comex is pan-asia with offices in China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore,
and Taiwan. The major shareholders of Comex include Visa International,
Infocomm Investments, Venture TDF, Barings Private Equity Partners, JAFCO
Investment (Asia Pacific), and JAIC Asia Capital.
More information about Comex can be found at www.comex.com.
About IBM
IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with more than
80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM Global Services
is the industry's largest business and information technology services
provider, with approximately 150,000 professionals serving customers in
160 countries and annual revenue of $35 billion (2001). IBM Global Services
integrates a broad range of capabilities -- services, consulting, hardware,
software and research -- to help companies of all sizes realize the full
value of information technology. The fastest way to get more information
about IBM is through the IBM home page at www.ibm.com.
About Gemplus
GEMPLUS: the world's leading provider of smart card solutions.
Gemplus helps its clients offer an exceptional range of portable, personalized
solutions that bring security and convenience to people's lives. These
include mobile internet access, inter-operable banking facilities, e-commerce
and a wealth of other applications.
Gemplus is the only completely dedicated, truly global player in the Smart
Card industry, with the largest R&D team, unrivalled experience, and
an outstanding track record of technological innovation.
In 2001, Gemplus was the worldwide smart card leader in both revenue
and total smart card shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest, Frost and Sullivan)
. Gemplus was also awarded Frost and Sullivan's 2002 Market Value Award
for its exceptional performance.
Gemplus trades its shares on Euronext Paris S.A. First Market and on
the Nasdaq Stock Market(tm) as GEMP in the form of ADSs. Its revenue in
2001 was 1 billion Euros.
Gemplus: Beyond Smart
www.gemplus.com
For more information, please contact:
Alethea Nah
Marcom Manager
Commerce Exchange
Tel: 65-6730 9837
Fax: 65-67345002
Email: alnah@comex.com
Janet Loh
Marketing Communications
Asia Pacific
Gemplus Technologies
Tel: 65-6317 3333
Fax: 65-6873 7971
Email: Janet.LOH-TK@gemplus.com
Fiona Mambu
Communications Manager
PT IBM Indonesia
Tel: 62-21-523-8557
Fax: 62-21-251-2933
Tieline: 61-956-8557
Mobile: 62-816-958-335
Email: mfiona@id.ibm.com
©2002 Gemplus All rights reserved. Gemplus
and the Gemplus logo are trademarks and service marks of Gemplus S.A.
and are registered in certain countries. All other trademarks and service
marks, whether registered or not in specific countries, are the property
of their respective owners. Java and Java Card are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
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