 Gemplus
partners with Universal Kart for EMV card personalisation in Turkey
Gemplus' GemSense Solution Adopted To Personalise Six Million EMV Cards
Luxembourg, 4 July 2003 - Gemplus (Euronext:
ISIN code LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP), the world's leading provider of smart card solutions, and Universal Kart,
part of the Teknoloji Holding Group in Turkey, today announce a partnership for
EMV card personalisation in Turkey. Universal Kart and Gemplus are jointly
investing one million Euros in the project to offer banks a cost effective EMV
card personalisation solution based on Gemplus' GemSense Pro software. An
estimated six million EMV smart cards will be issued over the next four years.
Easing the EMV migration path in Turkey
The personalisation of EMV banking cards is a complicated process as
personalisation bureaus need to integrate new requirements and stringent audits
set by Payment Associations in terms of production, equipment, facilities, and
software implementation. The new EMV standard, as set by Europay, MasterCard and
Visa, dictates that strict criteria be met for the personalisation of EMV smart
cards. GemSense, Gemplus' turnkey EMV personalisation software solution, is
fully certified by EMV Payment Associations. GemSense enables Universal Kart to
fulfill all needs related to EMV card personalisation, from data processing to
card issuance. To ease Universal Kart facility upgrade to EMV requirements,
Gemplus will also provide Universal Kart with integration and consulting
services.
" We are very pleased to have signed Gemplus as our strategic partner.
Gemplus is not only the world's leading provider of smart cards, but has also
successfully implemented a large number of EMV migration projects worldwide.
Therefore, Gemplus will be able to support us with a wealth of practical
knowledge. GemSense Pro was also really the only software solution for Universal
Kart. Its EMV compliance gives us the assurance we need to produce smart credit
cards that meet the required standards. Additionally, Gemplus' eight GemSense
card personalisation centres will provide us with a back-up system should we
require additional support when producing EMV cards for Turkey, " said
Soner Casur, Teknoloji Holding Financial Solutions Group Head.
" Our partnership with Universal Kart endorses our strategy of services
and solutions to suit the customer's needs. GemSense technology will enable
Universal Kart to produce EMV smart cards quickly and effectively, with the
added advantage of local flexibility and qualified services. Universal Kart will
also be able to outsource card personalisation to Gemplus, should demand
increase substantially. Either way, Universal Kart's customers win. In addition
to the financial investment we are making, we are also committed to providing
technical support and consultancy to help banks in Turkey migrate successfully
to EMV for the January 2005 deadline, " comments Alain Faburel, Director
Sales, South Europe Middle East and Africa, Gemplus.
Editor's notes
EMV is a smart card standard that was created in 1996 and developed by
Europay, MasterCard and Visa. EMV specifies that, by 2005, all debit/credit
payment cards in Europe will be smart cards rather than magnetic stripe cards.
Visa and MasterCard Europe have put in place a number of incentives to ensure
that banks across Europe manage to meet the deadline. The EMV standard is
recognized internationally, guaranteeing worldwide interoperability and security.
About Universal Kart
Universal Kart, a Teknoloji Holding Group company, was founded in
1998. The company acts as an "operational solutions partner" to card
issuers and acquirers in Turkey. It offers technical consultancy and services to
companies issuing cards and installing PoS terminals and plans to provide new
services to enterprises as a strategic "Technological Service Partner".
www.ukh.com.tr
About Gemplus
Gemplus (Euronext: ISIN code LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP) is the world's number one
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 data services, inter-operable banking, identity, WLAN,
m-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 2002, Gemplus was the worldwide smart card leader
in both revenue and total smart card shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest).
Gemplus was also awarded Frost & Sullivan's 2002 Market Value Leadership
Award for its exceptional performance.
Gemplus' revenue in 2002 was 787 million Euros. www.gemplus.com
©2003 Gemplus. All rights reserved. Gemplus, the Gemplus
logo, and GemSense are trademarks and service marks of Gemplus 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.
Some of the statements contained in this release constitute
forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or our
future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties,
and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of
activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future
results, levels of activities, performance, or achievements expressed or implied
by such forward-looking statements. Actual events or results may differ
materially. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the
forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results,
levels of activity, performance or achievements. Factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those estimated by the forward-looking
statements contained in this release include, but are not limited to: trends in
wireless communication and mobile commerce markets; our ability to develop new
technology, and the effects of competing technologies developed and expected
intense competition generally in our main markets; profitability of our
expansion strategy; challenges to or loss of our intellectual property rights;
our ability to establish and maintain strategic relationships in our major
businesses; our ability to develop and take advantage of new software and
services; and the effect of future acquisitions and investments on our share
price. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the
accuracy and completeness of such forward-looking statements. The
forward-looking statements contained in this release speak only as of this
release. We are under no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements
after this date to conform such statements to actual results or to reflect the
occurrence of anticipated results.
For more information, please contact:
Steve Lacourt
Marketing Communications Manager
Tel: +32 (0) 2 711 48 20
email: steve.lacourt@gemplus.com
Vanessa Clarke
Edelman Public Relations
Tel : +44 (0)20
7344 1349
Email : vanessa.clarke@edelman.com
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