STMicroelectronics Announces Mass Roll-out in Poland and Czech Republic of VISA Cards Based on Proton Prisma Smart Card Platform

18 July, 2003
By: John Wehr
category: Contactless, Financial
Geneva, July 17, 2003 – STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) today announcedthat CSOB Bank in the Czech Republic and Kredyt Bank Poland have
 received VISA certification for the personalization of their Proton
 Prisma cards and will begin a mass roll-out of these cards in the next
 few weeks. Both banks are part of the KBC Bank & Insurance Group, one
 of Europe's important financial groups and leading financial
 institutions in Central and Eastern Europe, which signed a license
 agreement with Proton World International in 2002 allowing a number of
 KBC's associated banks in Central and Eastern Europe to start
 implementing the Proton Prisma multi-application smart card
 technology.
 <br /> <br />
 In 2002, Kredyt Bank began working with Proton World International,
 which was acquired by STMicroelectronics in April 2003, to implement
 the infrastructure required to allow issuance of Proton Prisma EMV
 cards. Kredyt Bank installed MATRIX, which is the Proton Prisma card
 management and personalization system, and integrated it successfully
 into its own host system.
  <br /> <br />
 Following the certification from VISA of the personalized Proton
 Prisma card, Kredyt Bank started in June 2003 to issue chip-based VISA
 Classic and VISA Gold credit cards.
   <br /> <br />
 In a later phase, Kredyt Bank also plans to replace its present VISA
 Electron and Maestro debit cards by Proton Prisma-based EMV cards. The
 bank is also exploring opportunities to optimize the multi-application
 functionality of the Proton Prisma platform by working with partners
 in loyalty applications.
  <br /> <br />
 In the Czech Republic, CSOB Bank has also successfully installed
 Proton Prisma's Matrix card lifecycle management and personalization
 system and is starting the migration of its Visa Electron debit card
 base to chip technology in June 2003, for which it received Visa
 certification. Other CSOB card products will be gradually converted to
 the same Proton Prisma EMV multi-application platform: e.g. CSOB's
 Post Savings Bank will later this year start converting all its debit
 cards to Proton Prisma.
  <br /> <br />
 Following the successful implementations of the Proton Prisma platform
 in the Czech Republic and Poland, a third KBC-affiliated bank, K&H,
 has also decided to implement the platform in Hungary.
  <br /> <br />
 Matrix has been designed to manage the lifecycle and application
 inventory of every issued smart card throughout its lifecycle. As the
 host-based implementation of the CALC end-to-end specifications, its
 modular design allows issuers to start small, with limited
 investments, then to migrate gradually and seamlessly to the full
 multi-application functionality.
  <br /> <br />
 "Kredyt Bank is committed to be the pioneer issuer of EMV
 multi-application cards in Poland and Proton Prisma seems to have the
 satisfactory capacity to this effect. We are looking forward to have
 not only VSDC functionality on our cards, but also an open platform
 chip technology, which would enable us to successfully expand our
 banking offer to commercial entities developing their loyalty programs
 and other functions for applications operated on smart cards," said
 Jaroslaw Chrzanowski, Managing Director Card Center of Kredyt Bank.
  <br /> <br />
 Petr Skala, Manager Cards Department from CSOB Bank, commented, "We
 are proud to be with the first to mass roll-out EMV cards on the
 multi-application Proton Prisma platform. The flexibility of this
 technology will allow our group not only to roll-out EMV compliant
 bank products, but also allow us to add and open additional
 applications using the same infrastructure and deliver to our clients
 and business partners higher value through the card products."
  <br /> <br />
 "Proton Prisma is proven technology today" added, Armand Linkens,
 Group Vice President, for the newly acquired Proton products, within
 STMicroelectronics' Memory Products Group. "By being the first to mass
 issue Proton Prisma smart cards, KBC and its affiliates Kredyt Bank
 and CSOB are setting a milestone here. As their decisions were the
 result of fundamental study work and business evaluations, we are
 proud to have them as references, that can testify of the quality of
 Proton products in general and Proton Prisma in particular."
  <br /> <br />
 About STMicroelectronics <br />
 STMicroelectronics is a global leader in developing and delivering
 semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics
 applications. An unrivalled combination of silicon and system
 expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP)
 portfolio and strategic partners positions the Company at the
 forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology and its products play a
 key role in enabling today's convergence markets. The Company's shares
 are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on Euronext Paris and on
 the Milan Stock Exchange. In 2002, the Company's net revenues were
 $6.32 billion and net earnings were $429.4 million. Further
 information on ST can be found at www.st.com.
  <br /> <br />

 Proton World International was acquired by STMicroelectronics, the
 world's second largest supplier of smart card chips, in April 2003.
 Its product offer includes Proton Prisma: a family of smart card
 technology products that consists of smart card system software (card
 OS, middleware and application software), especially for e-purse, EMV
 (Europay/MasterCard/Visa) debit/credit cards, PKI (Public Key
 Infrastructure) security, and data management applications.
  <br /> <br />

 About Kredyt Bank (Poland) <br />
 Kredyt Bank S.A. is one of the top five banking groups in Poland by
 total assets, with increasing market shares in deposits and loans. Its
 network comprises nearly 390 outlets spread nationwide. It has a
 branch and service outlets in Lithuania, a representative office in
 Kaliningrad (Russia) and a subsidiary in the Ukraine (Kredyt Bank
 Ukraine).
 http://www.kredytbank.pl;
  <br /> <br />

 About CSOB Bank (Czech Republic) <br />
 CSOB  is one of the premier financial services groups in Central
 Europe. Acquired by KBC Bank & Insurance Group in 1999, it caters for
 3.4 million customers in the Czech Republic - where it leads the
 market (market share of 20-25% in lending and customer deposits) - and
 in Slovakia.
 http://www.csob.cz
  <br /> <br />
 STMicroelectronics, Inc. <br />
 Lexington Corporate Center <br />
 10 Maguire Road <br />
 Bldg. 1, 3rd Floor <br />
 Lexington, MA 02421 <br />
 (781) 861 2650 <br />
 www.st.com <br />
 T1322M
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