JCB Issues First Hybrid Smart Cards in Taiwan
25 September, 2002
category: Contactless, Financial
Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 25, 2002 – (JCN Newswire) – JCB International Co., Ltd., the international arm of major Japanese credit card company JCB Co. Ltd., has successfully started issuing EMV smart cards in Taiwan. Taipei Bank, which is one of 30 JCB card issuers in Taiwan, has begun issuing the smart cards to about 3,000 employees of First International Computers Inc. (FIC). FIC is one of the world’s leading companies in the design and production of motherboards, PC systems, and servers. The National Credit Card Center (NCCC) in Taiwan is providing support for the smart cards issuing program.
The FIC Employee Smart Cards are hybrid cards with both contact and contactless chips in a single card. The smart cards provide five functions: credit payment, office building access control, office car park access control, payment at the company cafeteria and employee identification.
The contact chip contains the JCB EMV credit payment application J/Smart and provides superior protection against fraud. The contactless chip Mifare contains an access control function that will ensure both high security and speedy access to office buildings and the office car park. It also allows speedy payment at the company cafeteria. The smart cards have a photograph of the cardholder and are also used as employee identification cards.
In the past five years in Taiwan, the number of JCB cardmembers has grown 1,000% to 1.2 million and the number of merchants has doubled to 140,000. Five NCCC member banks began issuing JCB cards in 1994, and 25 other banks have followed. JCB has made rapid progress with both issuing and acquiring and can compare favorably with other payment brands in Taiwan market in recent years.
In Taiwan, credit card companies are aggressively introducing smart cards to prevent losses from fraud and to provide multiple services. Starting with the Taipei Bank/FIC smart cards issuance, JCB has been negotiating with various sectors to form alliances by using chip technology, including hybrid cards. JCB has already established plans for smart cards with the post-payment of transit fares, such as bus, subway and train, as well as credit card functions in Japan. This type of smart card is suitable for the Taiwanese market as well. JCB will promote EMV smart card issuing projects to meet various needs of both business and public sectors that will strengthen its presence further in Taiwan.
About JCB Co. Ltd.
JCB is an international credit card brand and the largest card issuer/acquirer in Japan. JCB launched its card business in Japan in 1961 and began expanding overseas in 1981. Its merchant network includes 9.28 million merchants and spans 189 countries and territories. JCB cards are now issued in 18 countries and territories, with 42 million cardmembers. As part of its international growth strategy, JCB has formed alliances with more than 320 leading banks and financial institutions globally to increase merchant coverage and cardmember base. JCB’s corporate philosophy of “Service from the heart”, a commitment to responsive, high-quality service, continues to guide it as it creates the future together with its customers, merchants and partners. For further information, please visit the JCB Co. Ltd. home page at: www.jcbinternational.com.
Contact:
JCB Co. Ltd.Jim [email protected] 3 5623 1493
Sept. 25, 2002, 15:00 (JST)
Source: JCB Co. Ltd.
JCB Co. Ltd.
www.jcbinternational.com.
From the Japan Corporate News Network
http://www.japancorp.net
Topic: New market for product
Sectors: Embedded technologies, Credit & Misc. Finance, Electronic General, Financial General, IT General, Retail Banking / Merchant Banking
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