Verisoft has been awarded an order from one of the top banks in Greece, Eurobank EFG for both the PowerEMV and InstantEMV products. This is so as to be able to start producing EMV cards in house using 10 local smartcard couplers. The Gemalto eGalleon G2 cards will be used with 250 different credit and debit products issued by the bank.
An interesting aspect of this project is the implementation of an inline EMV-Magstripe-Optical quality control check using a special camera and image recognition systems and Verisoft’s inline EMV verification system to achieve very high level of reliability and the elimination of embarrassing distribution mistakes.
Eurobank EFG was selected as “Best Bank in Greece” in the 2008 Euromoney Awards for Excellence. EFG Eurobank Ergasias is the third largest bank in Greece with more than 300 branches throughout the country.
It is part of Spiro Latsis group of companies. EFG Eurobank Ergasias is based in Athens, Greece.

Verisoft received a land mark order from the leading Kuwaiti bank BKME for both the InstantEMV and PowerEMV products.

BKME wished to start producing EMV cards in house, within 25 branches, providing Instantly Issued personalised bank cards to all new customers.
Oberthur cards will be used for the various credit and debit products issued by the bank.
An interesting aspect of this project is the implementation of distributed issuance at the branches. The customer will visit the branch, make a card request and within seconds a new card will be issued which can be used immediately.

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Headquartered in Dubai, MASHREQBANK is the best bank of the UAE according to EUROMONEY.

Verisoft is contracted to provide the software for EMV card migration for this innovative bank in Dubai, UAE. Verisoft PowerEMV will be driving CIM COMBI 1000 and MF 6000 card personalisation machines to produce VISA VSDC and MASTERCARD MCHIP cards with Welcome Realtime XLS Loyalty software.

eXtended Loyalty System : XLS from WRT is also used by AKBANK for the AXESS product in Turkey is an advanced loyalty solution and in this implementation Verisoft will be merging state of the art EMV payment functions VISA VSDC and MASTERCARD MCHIP into the same card to handle both secure payment transactions while earning bonus points.

Verisoft have taken the challenge of this project to be completed in a short time frame with certification from VISA for EMV and from WRT for XLS.

Verisoft matched this challenge by completing the certification with the prescribed tight deadlines and the bank has been licensed by Visa to become the first issuer in UAE to produce in house its own EMV chip cards.

In the second phase of this project MASTERCARD MCHIP will be certified the same way and this project have also started.

Project includes partners in UK, BELGIUM, DENMARK, GERMANY and FRANCE; and local Verisoft partner in UAE provides in house customer support during implementation and certification phase. A truly multinational standards based software development and qualification project.

It is also one of the first multiapplication chip card project in the world including best of breed components from Visa and Welcome Realtime.

Verisoft major undertaking in Bosnia Herzegovina is the turnkey development and provision of software and hardware systems to BAMCARD, the national switch center which is partnership of more than fifteen BiH banks such as ABS, UPI, IKB, Tuzlanska, Volksbank, Raiffeisen, CPB, and Ziraat Bosnia.

Established in 1999, BAMCARD is designed to be the processing center for debit, credit, stored value cards and network switching center for all BiH banks as well as other companies needing card services for different purposes. VISA certification process has been accomplished on February 2004.

Verisoft POWERCARDIX V2 software running on ORACLE is used for managing client and merchant accounts, issuing and accepting cards, switching transactions for POS and ATM terminals, and clearing/settlement services. POWERCARDIX is a client/server application developed with PowerBuilder GUI client side and ORACLE / C++ server side.

BAMCARD is equipped with two high speed HEWLETT PACKARD UNIX systems with FAULT TOLERANT MC/SERVICE GUARD architecture, two systems backing up each other for NON-STOP operation.

Another HP system is present for back office functions. These systems are networked over BiH TELEKOM FRAME RELAY service at 2 MBPS with ISDN backup interconnecting all banks and VERISOFT FAST ACCESS CONTROLLER DEVICE for systems are placed on the field in DIAL UP mode.

BAMCARD provides card issuing services using its DATACARD machines for all sorts of magnetic stripe and smart cards. It is also possible to produce color photo ID cards with special holographic security overlays along with banking cards.

BAMCARD has very high speed mailing machines for sending forms, letters and statements to clients and merchants.

It will provide mailing services to whoever requires such services BAMCARD will provide connection, switching and monitoring services for POS and ATM terminals providing online sale of goods and services as well as cash dispensing for both domestic card holder and international customers.

P-CARD will personalize MULTOS and GP credit and debit cards with VSDC, MCHIP4 and SPAN applications.

In today’s highly competitive financial services world, the importance of establishing and maintaining strong customer relationships cannot be underestimated.
Consumers’ expectations of service quality are continually increasing; the instant provision of a payment card following successful registration, or the instant replacement of a lost or stolen card can be important tools in ensuring card activation and cardholder retention.

Visa card personalisation has traditionally been performed in highly secure, special purpose bureaux. Technology is now available to instantly create fully personalised Visa cards in bank branches, at retailer locations or on the road to support special promotions or sporting events. Instant issuance can be used to deliver any type of Visa card; credit, debit, prepaid, V PAY, chip and PIN and Visa payWave.

Once a new customer’s details have been captured and approved, the process of personalising the card typically takes less than a minute; this includes embossing account and cardholder details on the front of the card, printing CVV2 on the back, and electronically encoding the magnetic stripe and chip. It is also possible to graphically print individual card designs if required.

As an optional feature, a secure PIN pad can be used to allow the new cardholder to choose his or her PIN.
Alternatively, Integrated Voice Response (IVR) systems or traditional PIN delivery methods can be used.

Benefits

Feedback from in-branch Visa debit and credit issuers, and evidence from instantly issued retail private label programmes demonstrates that instant delivery of card to cardholder results in earlier activation and higher activation rates than for cards delivered through mail. Instant issuance can be used as a service differentiator and customer acquisition tool; providing new customers with a card for immediate use, and existing customers with an instant replacement of a lost or stolen card.

Range of different solutions

Branch based systems for instant issuance of Visa debit and credit are in place today in many countries around the world. Visa is working with its member banks and key partners to develop scaleable pragmatic solutions to enable issuance of all types of Visa cards in both branch and non-branch environments. In August 2008 Findomestic launched the first retailer operated Visa instant issuance pilot in Europe at the La Rinascente department store in Catania, Italy.

Visa’s implementation requirements for instant issuance describe physical and logical system design and operations to ensure that all equipment, customer data, card stock, consumables, cryptographic keys and PINs are adequately controlled and protected. Many requirements are common to all environments, for example, all systems must enforce dual control and segregation of duties to ensure that no single person has the ability to enter a customer’s personal information, create a card and choose or obtain the PIN.
Non-branch systems located in environments such as department stores or hypermarkets require additional
physical and logical controls

Visa instant issuance demonstration

Visa’s instant issuance demonstration system shows how multiple new technologies can work together to instantly deliver unique and personal cards for your customers:

• Card image selection and manipulation software allows cardholders to create individual designs for their card.
• Desktop personalisation equipment can fully personalise a card while the customer waits. This includes image printing, embossing the front of the card, indent printing CVV2 on the rear of the card, encoding the magnetic stripe and securely writing data to the chip.
• Visa payWave cards can be instantly issued if required.
• Innovative transparent card bodies broaden the range of card design possibilities, and provide a window into the card’s chip and contactless technology.

For more information
Please contact your local Visa Europe representative or email euinstantissuance(at)visa.com

Visa Instant Issuance Brochure (This article) PDF

Thales, a leader in information systems and communications security, today announces that it is providing BKME with an instant EMV card issuance system which allows banks’ branches to provide customers with a new Chip and PIN card within ten minutes.

The system, which Thales has demonstrated with its partners in the region over the past four years, allows customers to apply for a card and to choose their own PIN number in the branch.

The EMV Instant Issuance implementation enables BKME to lead the way not only in the Middle East but on a global scale in issuing Chip cards.

The bank is able to provide its customers with a fully personalised EMV card in the branch, reducing the cost of mailing cards and PIN’s to customers and eliminating the risk of cards being stolen or lost in transit.

It is estimated that between 20-30% of mailed credit and debit cards are never activated or rejected, incurring unnecessary costs in terms of materials, production and delivery.

The complete system brings together the technology and expertise of Thales, Verisoft, and the local Thales partner Al Nawasi. Paul Meadowcroft, head of transaction security for the Information Systems Security activities of Thales says: “The successful introduction of the instant issuance system at BKME is the result of 12 months of planning, testing and implementing appropriate processes.

We believe that we will now see other banks worldwide follow suit, especially in Saudi Arabia, where an increase in demand is evident with the SPAN domestic Debit application.”

He adds: “The implementation of instant EMV cards at BKME not only provides cost and time-saving benefits but also offers the possibility of secure instant issuance of ID and store cards in the future.”

The system has been rolled out at all 22 BKME branches in Kuwait and has been live since August 2007, working seamlessly with Thales P3 crypto modules and existing Thales HSMs purchased by the bank. The project was implemented in conjunction with Al-Nawasi, a General Trading & Contracting Company and Thales partner in Kuwait, and Verisoft, a provider of integrated software, hardware and consulting services and a Thales partner in Turkey.

The solution is based on the Microsoft.net Framework comprising web-based interactive software and uses a secure PINPAD/POS terminal for branch PIN entry.

The Verisoft PowerWATCH system can personalise all kinds of non-standard form factor contactless payment devices such as mobile phones, watches, stickers and keyfobs.

As well as PayPass, PowerWATCH also supports Visa-WAVE, Visa qVSDC and Mifare based cards and devices.

GARANTI bank is the leading bank in europe which has implemented “BONUS TRINK” branded contactless products with Mastercard PayPass technology as the first bank in Europe LAKS is the patented producer of the PayPass Transaction Watch which was awarded with OsCards during CARTES’2006 with this product.

For details of the Contactless Payment Watch in the UK and Ireland visit www.contactless-payment.co.uk