 Gemplus delivers Italy’s first mass volume of EMV cards to Setefi (Intesa Group)
Gemplus strengthens its position in the financial sector in Southern Europe
Luxembourg, 7 July 2005 – Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext:
LU0121706294 – GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP), the world’s leading provider of smart card
solutions, today announced that it is supplying more than one million smart
payment cards to Setefi, part of Intesa Group which is one of the largest
banking groups in Italy. With the EMV migration in its pilot stages in the
region, it is the first bank to deliver mass volumes of cards to the market.
By the end of June 2005, Gemplus delivered 500,000 cards to Setefi, Intesa
Group’s service centre, where the personalisation process is carried out. The
cards are intended for credit and debit payment applications, as well as for
Intesa Group’s specific payment application, Moneta.
“As we continue to develop and build upon our service offering, it is imperative
to partner with a smart card company with the expertise to supply EMV smart
payment cards and consultation,” commented Mr Spadoni, General Director of
Setefi, Intesa Group. “Gemplus is therefore the ideal choice, and has been
instrumental in providing support for the implementation. Above all, it has been
able to supply a cost-effective and robust EMV operating system.”
“Gemplus has again demonstrated that proven market experience is a key
consideration for leading banking groups when considering partners for smart
payment projects,” added Philippe Combes, Executive Vice-President Operations
and Financial Services, Gemplus. “Thanks to our streamlined production processes
and ability to purchase large volumes of chips, we are able to meet the demands
of banks for a rapid, cost-effective migration solution.”
In 2004, many European banks made the necessary preparations in readiness for
the roll out of EMV in 2005. They continue their strategy to combat card fraud
with the objective that greater security will boost usage and strengthen their
relationship with their customers. The migration progress will be of key
significance in Italy during the second half of 2005.
The cards will be produced at Gemplus’ specialised European PVC manufacturing
facility in Havant, UK.
1. EMV is a smart card payment standard that was created in
1996 by Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV), guaranteeing worldwide
interoperability and security for payment. Benefiting card issuers, acquirers
and cardholders, EMV is essential in the reduction of fraud and also provides
opportunities for financial institutions to differentiate new services for
cardholders.
About Gemplus
Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP) is
the world's leading player in the smart card industry in both revenue and total
shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest (2004), Frost & Sullivan, Datamonitor).
It has sold over 5 billion smart cards.
With security at its core, and 2400 patents and patent applications produced by
its innovative R&D team, Gemplus delivers a wide range of portable,
personalized solutions in areas including Identity, Mobile Telecommunications,
Public Telephony, Banking, Retail, Transport, Healthcare, WLAN, Pay-TV,
e-government, and access control.
Gemplus' revenue in 2004 was 865 million Euros.
www.gemplus.com
For more information
Steve Lacourt
Gemplus Financial Services Business Unit
Tel: +32 (0) 2 711 48 20
Fax: +32 (0) 2 725 14 60
Email: steve.lacourt@gemplus.com
Emma Williamson
Edelman
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7344 1253
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7344 1222
Email: emma.williamson@edelman.com
©2005 Gemplus. All rights reserved. Gemplus, the Gemplus
logo, are trademarks and service marks of Gemplus S.A. and are registered in
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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.
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