MasterCard Records 65 Percent Growth in Smart Card Issuance in Asia/Pacific
26 August, 2002
category: Contactless, Education, Financial
Now More Than 6 Million MasterCard Branded Smart Cards in the Region
Singapore, August 26, 2002 – MasterCard International today announced that
it has issued more than 6 million MasterCard branded smart cards in
Asia/Pacific to date. This is a 65 percent increase in smart card issuance
within a span of six months. At the end of 2001, MasterCard issued 3.8
million smart cards in Asia/Pacific. This key milestone demonstrates
MasterCard’s continued leadership in driving smart card adoption.
“2001 was the watershed year for chip in Asia where many challenges to chip
migration were addressed and financial institutions acknowledged the strong
business case for issuing smart cards. We see solid prospects for this
year where many of our member financial institutions in the region will
begin to reap the benefits of moving to chip. Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and
Malaysia have been the major growth markets for chip. There will continue
to be an increasing momentum for chip migration regionally and at
MasterCard we are ahead of our target for smart card issuance in 2002,”
said Jeff Portelli, senior vice president, Product Delivery Group,
Asia/Pacific, MasterCard International.
Of the 6 million MasterCard branded smart cards issued in the region,
approximately 4 million are cards operating with MULTOS and issued with
payment applications. With the 4 million EMV (Europay-MasterCard-Visa)
compliant smart cards issued in region, MasterCard remains the leader in
Asia/Pacific for EMV-compliant smart cards.
Globally, more than 125 million MasterCard, Maestro, Mondex, and
Clip-branded smart cards have been issued worldwide, and more than half of
them carry value-added applications like loyalty, digital ID, e-ticketing,
e-coupons or personal data storage.
Rules and Guidance for Issuing Smart Cards
To protect members’ investment in moving to chip and to ensure a smooth
transition to chip, MasterCard Asia/Pacific has helped its members put
rules in place for chip migration, which includes ensuring that new chip
card programs are EMV compliant. MasterCard’s Asia/Pacific Board, with
representation from members around the region, has adopted guidelines to
support chip migration with a view to having most cards migrated and
infrastructure in place by 2006.
Support for Members and Vendors
MasterCard works closely with its members and vendors to accelerate chip
migration in their markets. In April this year, MasterCard conducted a
smart card training workshop in Malaysia for technology vendors to help
accelerate the deployment of EMV-compliant smart cards among local banks
and technology partners. The workshop was conducted for the first time in
Asia/Pacific and MasterCard plans to run similar seminars for members
throughout the region. In May, MasterCard launched the industry’s first
unified Global Vendor Program that provides vendors with direct access to
comprehensive business information and technical support from MasterCard.
MasterCard is also the only global payments leader that supports all major
smart card operating platforms, allowing members to focus on business
decisions rather than technology issues.
Low Cost Multi-Application Smart Cards
Last September, MasterCard announced that more than 1 million MULTOS-based
multi-application smart cards have rolled into the region under its US$2.99
chip program. Today, MasterCard sees a 20 percent drop in the price of its
US$2.99 chip. MasterCard is dedicated to making it easier and less
expensive for members to deploy multi-application smart cards.
Key Smart Card Programs
MasterCard has launched several key initiatives within the first half of
this year to accelerate smart card adoption in support of its overall chip
strategy. MasterCard recently launched the MC2 card, the first Generation X
multi-application smart card in Asia/Pacific. Bank Islam launched South
East Asia’s first MULTOS based EMV smart card in Malaysia in June. In
April, MasterCard introduced the “OneSMARTÔ MasterCardÒ,” a comprehensive
approach to smart cards designed to give MasterCard’s member financial
institutions around the world the technology choices, marketing support and
critical flexibility they need.
“By migrating from magnetic stripe to chip, consumers, merchants and
financial institutions will benefit from the dramatic increases in
convenience, security and flexibility. MasterCard is leading the way for
the deployment of smart cards and will continue to offer cost effective,
superior and highly flexible smart card solutions to help ease the chip
migration process for our members,” added Mr. Portelli.
About MasterCard International
MasterCard International is a leader in global e-business. MasterCard is
focused on providing its member financial institutions with customized,
meaningful global e-business solutions that connect them to their
accountholders. Through its investment in industry innovation,
participation in standards development and business alliances, MasterCard
is staying in the forefront of technology integration to enable anytime,
anywhere payments across multiple channels and various devices.
MasterCard’s global e-business solutions include Internet security, smart
cards, mobile commerce/wireless, business to business electronic commerce,
and numerous emerging technologies.
MasterCard International has a comprehensive portfolio of well-known,
widely accepted payment brands including MasterCard, Cirrus and Maestro.
More than 1.7 billion MasterCard, Cirrus and Maestro logos are present on
credit, charge and debit cards in circulation today. A corporation with
more than 15,000 member financial institutions, 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. MasterCard’s
award-winning Pricelessâ advertising campaign is now seen in 90 countries
and in 45 languages, giving the MasterCard brand a truly global reach and
scope. With more than 28 million acceptance locations, no payment card is
more widely accepted globally than MasterCard. For the six months ended
June 30, 2002, gross dollar volume exceeded US$534 billion. MasterCard can
be reached through its website at http://www.mastercardinternational.com.
This press release contains forward-looking information. Although
MasterCard believes that its expectations are based on reasonable
assumptions, it can give no assurance that its goals will be achieved.
Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
the forward-looking information contained in this release include: global
economic conditions; MasterCard’s ability to achieve its strategic
objectives; the resolution of certain legal proceedings pending against
MasterCard; and changing regulatory regimes and market dynamics in certain
countries. MasterCard disclaims any obligation to publicly update or
revise any forward-looking information.
