Gemalto Extends Banking Personalization Service for Singapore’s Citi – M1 – Visa NFC Pilot
Singapore, June 17, 2009 – Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, announces that it is providing personalization services to Citibank and Visa in support of the Citi – M1 mobile – Visa payWave NFC pilot in Singapore.
More than 750 merchant locations across Singapore are participating in the three-month pilot, which was launched in May 2009. Up to 300 selected Citi M1 Visa Platinum card members have been invited to join. They are able to purchase items at Visa payWave merchants simply by waving their NFC-enabled phones in front of a contactless reader at the point of sale.
Gemalto is entrusted with the management and preparation of sensitive user information from Citibank and to perform secure Visa personalization services on the phones enabling subscribers to gain access to the Visa payWave service on Singapore M1’s mobile network.
The service is performed at Gemalto’s certified personalization facility in Singapore as part of the Gemalto’s global Trusted Services Management (TSM) service offer.
“Mobile payment technology, when paired with a credit card account, has the great potential to change the future of consumer behavior in how we make payments and transact daily. This pilot is testimony to our continuous endeavor to acquire new technologies that can provide enhanced convenience, accessibility and mobility for our customers. Gemalto’s experience in NFC projects around the world facilitates secure data exchanges between the parties involved in this pilot,” commented John Denhof, Business Director of Credit Payment Products, Citibank Singapore Ltd.
Ms. Meranda Chan, Visa’s Country Manager for Singapore and Brunei added, “With this pilot, we aim to gain greater insight into what drives consumer usage of Visa payWave on mobile devices. But a project like this can only succeed if the necessary expertise is applied in operational and technical areas. For that, we are pleased to have Gemalto as a partner, given the depth of their experience in smart card management for both the telecommunications and payment sectors.”
“Mobile NFC will not only change the way consumers use their mobile phones but impact their lifestyles and buying behaviour as well. By working with Gemalto and Citibank, our long time partners, on this pilot project, we hope to better understand consumer behaviour in the use of this technology. This will help us develop a compelling mobile payment service for both our consumers and business partners,” said Mr P Subramaniam, Chief Marketing Officer, M1.
Mr Tan Teck Lee, President Gemalto Asia remarked, “Having participated in major NFC pilot programs around the world, we have accumulated a unique expertise in operating services with multiple stakeholders and different industries, particularly when dealing with how to handle sensitive information. Gemalto is unique in that we gained all this experience across all of the key industries, for example in the telecom, financial services and transportation sectors”.
About Gemalto
Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2008 annual revenues of €1.68 billion, and 10,000 employees operating out of 75 offices, research and service centers in 40 countries.
Gemalto is at the heart of our evolving digital society. The freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain, and work – anytime, anywhere – has become an integral part of what people want and expect, in ways that are convenient, enjoyable and secure.
Gemalto delivers on the growing demands of billions of people worldwide for mobile connectivity, identity and data protection, credit card safety, health and transportation services, e-government and national security. We do this by supplying to governments, wireless operators, banks and enterprises a wide range of secure personal devices, such as subscriber identification modules (SIM) in mobile phones, smart banking cards, smart card access badges, electronic passports, and USB tokens for online identity protection. To complete the solution we also provide software, systems and services to help our customers achieve their goals.
As the use of Gemalto’s software and secure devices increases with the number of people interacting in the digital and wireless world, the company is poised to thrive over the coming years.
For more information please visit http://www.gemalto.com.
About Citi
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Through its two operating units, Citicorp and Citi Holdings, Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management.
Additional information may be found at http://www.citigroup.com or http://www.citi.com.
About Visa
Visa Inc. operates the world’s largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms. This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world, and Visa/PLUS is one of the world’s largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries.
For more information, visit http://www.corporate.visa.com.
About M1
M1, Singapore’s most exciting and innovative mobile, broadband and IDD service provider, was launched in April 1997. Since then, it has made significant inroads into the local mobile communications market, gaining considerable brand presence and market share. M1 aims to be the leader in personal voice, business and data communications, focusing on value, quality and customer service.
More information on M1 is available at http://www.m1.com.sg.
Contacts:
Gemalto Asia
Marcos Fernandes
T.: +852 2306 3626
M.: +852 6051 6425
marcos.fernandes@gemalto.com
Grayling Global
Aparna Agrawal / Joyce Lee / Kenny Yap
T.: +65 6325 4606
F.: +65 6325 4616
Aparna.agrawal@sg.grayling.com