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Gemplus Asia Pacific Certified to support both Visa and Mastercard regional EMV chip card personalisationSingapore, April 9, 2003 - The world’s leading provider of smart card solutions today announced that Secur-Card Gemplus (SCG) in Singapore is the only centre in South East Asia certified to manufacture and personalise EMV smart cards for Visa and MasterCard International. The EMV-based smart card system stores data securely in the on-board chip, meaning faster processing, while lowering risk of fraud and card management costs. The new cards also pave the way for increased consumer empowerment and offers new business opportunities for banks. Customers will be able to use a single card for multiple secure applications including debit/credit payments, loyalty schemes, e-purse and home banking. “Gemplus is committed to easing the EMV smart card migration for Visa and MasterCard member banks and payment associates. This programme has been a year in development and we are prepared to provide a complete solution, right from card manufacturing to meeting each member banks’ personalisation needs,” said Steven Yap, Executive Director, SCG. Said Shuan Ghaidan, Vice President, Advanced Payment Systems, Asia/Pacific, MasterCard International, “We’re pleased to work with Gemplus, a long-standing and experienced technology partner of MasterCard. Gemplus has a proven track record in working on EMV migrations with banks around the world. As the leader in multi-application smart cards in Asia/Pacific, we’ll continue to work closely with our technology partners to help our member financial institutions accelerate their EMV migration process.” Bruce Mansfield, Regional Head of Chip Implementation at Visa Asia Pacifc said, “We are delighted with Secur-Card Gemplus’ certification for both Visa EMV card manufacture and personalisation in South East Asia. This will provide an important service to our member banks and we look forward to continuing our work with Gemplus in support of the migration to EMV.” Editor’s notes EMV is a smart card standard that was created in 1996 and developed by Europay, MasterCard and Visa. The EMV standard is recognized internationally, guaranteeing worldwide interoperability and security. About Gemplus GEMPLUS: 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 2001, Gemplus was the worldwide smart card leader in both revenue and total smart card shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest, Frost & Sullivan). Gemplus was also awarded Frost & Sullivan's 2002 Market Value Leadership Award for its exceptional performance. Gemplus trades its shares on Euronext Paris S.A. First Market and on the NASDAQ Stock Market as GEMP in the form of ADSs. Its revenue in 2002 was 787 million Euros. It employs 5700 people in 37 countries throughout the world. www.gemplus.com About MasterCard International MasterCard International has a comprehensive portfolio of well-known, widely accepted payment brands including MasterCard, Cirrus and Maestro. With approximately 25,000 MasterCard, Cirrus and Maestro members worldwide, MasterCard serves consumers and businesses, both large and small, in 210 countries and territories. MasterCard is a leader in quality and innovation, offering a wide range of payment solutions in the virtual and traditional worlds. The MasterCard award-winning Pricelessâ advertising campaign is now seen in 96 countries and in 45 languages, giving the MasterCard brand a truly global reach and scope. With more than 30 million acceptance locations, including over 820,000 MasterCard/Maestro/Cirrus ATMs around the world, no payment card is more widely accepted globally than MasterCard. For the year ended December 31, 2002, gross dollar volume exceeded US$1.14 trillion. MasterCard can be reached through its website at www.mastercardinternational.com About Visa International Visa is the world’s leading payment brand with more than 1.1 billion cards in circulation worldwide. Visa-branded cards are used to purchase over US$2.5 trillion worth of goods and services every year and are accepted at more than 30 million merchant locations and over 810,000 ATMs in more than 150 countries. Visa is a leader in Internet based payments and is pioneering the creation of universal commerce – the ability to conduct commerce anywhere, anytime, and any way. In Asia Pacific, Visa has a greater market share than all other payment card brands combined with 59 per cent of all card purchases at the point of sale being made using Visa cards. There are currently more than 365 million Visa cards in the region. During 2002, US$700 billion was spent at point of sale or withdrawn from ATMs in Asia Pacific using Visa cards, an increase of 43 per cent over the previous year. Visa Asia Pacific’s Internet address is www.visa-asia.com For press related information, please contact: ©2003 Gemplus All rights reserved. Gemplus, the Gemplus logo and GemSense 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. |