Gemalto first company to achieve accreditations in South Africa from major credit card companies
22 March, 2007
category: Financial
Card maker Gemalto has received certification at its Johannesburg-based banking facility from the three major credit card companies to be able to produce both mag stripe and EMV smart cards.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Gemalto, a world leader in digital security, today announced successful completion of American Express, MasterCard and Visa certifications of its Johannesburg-based banking facility for the personalization of magnetic-stripe and EMV (Europay MasterCard Visa) smart cards. It is intended to locally support the roll-out of EMV banking cards across South Africa, scheduled to start in Q3 this year. Gemalto has already secured an exclusive contract with a major South African bank for EMV personalization.
The Gemalto Johannesburg-based facility has been personalizing SIM cards for seven years, with a current capacity of 10 million units per year. It is now expanding into personalization of banking cards to boost its local activities in the financial sector. Gemalto already supplies banking cards in many African countries and is now adding the local personalization capability to address the emerging EMV market in the region.
“Gemalto is committed to locally supporting South African banks in their migration to chip-enabled cards,” commented Xavier Chanay, president Africa, Middle East, CIS at Gemalto. “Our brand new local personalization capability will allow us to operate closer to our bank customers and therefore, serve them with increased responsiveness.”
Gemalto was formed in June 2006 by the combination of Axalto and Gemplus. For more information please visit www.gemalto.com.