13 November, 2002
category: Biometrics, Contactless, Education, Financial
ATLANTA, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ – Today at BAI’s Retail Delivery Conference
& Expo 2002, Vital Processing Services(R) (Vital(R)), a recognized leader in
technology-based commerce enabling services, announced it has teamed up with
JCB International Credit Card Co., Ltd., JCB’s U.S. subsidiary, to help
promote smart card usage in the United States.
Vital also announced that on October 29, 2002, it completed its first live
end-to-end smart card transaction with JCB. As a result of this successful
achievement, in early 2003, Vital and JCB will partner with Honolulu-based
First Hawaiian Bank, a subsidiary of BancWest Corporation to launch a JCB
smart card pilot project in Hawaii.
JCB is the fourth largest credit card brand in the world with over 42
million card members. JCB Cards are accepted at nearly 10 million merchants
in 189 countries/territories including more than one million in North and
South America. JCB has a strong presence in the Asia & Pacific region and is
committed to further increasing its presence in the United States. Vital has
long served as a processor of JCB credit card transactions and is now
expanding its services to include processing of JCB smart card transactions.
“Our expanded relationship with JCB shows Vital’s commitment to be a
leader in processing all payment forms and all payment brands, ” said Vital
President and CEO, Jonathan Palmer. “The smart card market has been slow to
develop in the U.S., but it is making its leap across the Pacific. We are
pleased to be able to support JCB as they pave the way for smart card
acceptance in the U.S.”
The launch of the JCB smart card pilot in Hawaii will use smart card
terminals manufactured by Hypercom Corporation (NYSE: HYC), the global leader
in smart, fast and easy-to-use card payment technology.
Atsushi Niimura, President of JCB International Credit Card Co., Ltd and
also President of Tokyo based JCB International Co., Ltd. said, “We are very
much excited about this opportunity to work with Vital, First Hawaiian Bank
and Hypercom. Although the U.S. market is rather slow in its smart card
migration, we are proud that we can show our readiness for the chip
deployment, and we welcome any opportunity to further increase JCB’s presence
in the market.”
About JCB
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 International
homepage at http://www.jcbinternational.com .
About First Hawaiian Bank
First Hawaiian Bank (http://www.fhb.com ), founded in 1858, is Hawaii’s oldest
financial institution. The bank is headquartered in Honolulu and has 56
branches throughout Hawaii, three in Guam and two in Saipan. First Hawaiian
is one of the main subsidiaries of Honolulu-based BancWest Corporation
(http://www.bancwestcorp.com ), the 25th largest U.S. bank holding company with
assets of $34.3 billion and operations in seven Western states. BancWest is a
wholly owned subsidiary of Paris-based BNP Paribas.
About Hypercom
Hypercom Corporation is the leading global provider of electronic payment
solutions that add value at the point-of-sale for consumers, merchants and
acquirers, and yield increased profitability for its customers. Hypercom’s
products include secure web-enabled information and transaction terminals that
work seamlessly with its networking equipment and software applications for e-
commerce, m-commerce, smart cards and traditional payment applications.
Hypercom’s widely-accepted ePOS-infocommerce(R) (epic(TM)) framework of
consumer-activated, EMV-certified, touch-screen ICE(TM) (Interactive Consumer
Environment) information and transaction terminals enable acquirers and
merchants to decrease costs, increase revenues and improve customer retention.
Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Hypercom maintains an installed base of
more than 5 million terminals in over 100 countries, which conduct over 10
billion transactions annually. Hypercom’s web site is http://www.hypercom.com .
About Vital Processing Services
A leader in technology-based commerce enabling services, Vital Processing
Services(R) (Vital(R)) is the commerce connection between acquirers and
merchants, processing one out of every four authorized payment transactions in
North America. From authorizing and capturing electronic payments at the
merchant point of sale, to clearing and settling transactions, Vital provides
highly reliable, integrated end-to-end processing services to more than 300
acquirers and over one million merchants. Vital processes all payment types
for merchants of all sizes from a wide array of industries and provides
merchants and acquirers with the information and tools to efficiently manage
their payment processing businesses. Vital is a merchant processing joint
venture of Visa U.S.A. and TSYS(R) (NYSE: TSS). Additional information
regarding Vital can be found at http://www.vitalps.com .