Banks can now offer customers a handy, miniature-size contactless means of payment to hang on a key chain

Munich, May 17, 2006–Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) recently began offering MasterCard issuers conveniently-sized contactless payment cards and devices in smaller formats to be attached to key rings. G&D has developed an innovative Contactless Product Suite, which makes small-scale antennas available for Radio Frequency (RF) transmission on the basis of new antenna technology. The smaller MasterCard®PayPass™ form factor will be issued first to customers in North America.

G&D’s new antennas allow contactless payment devices to be manufactured in all sorts of new shapes and sizes, as demonstrated by the key fob now available for MasterCard issuers. These new form factors provide additional convenience and make the payment transaction particularly easy. Despite their reduced size, the devices meet the PayPass-ISO/IEC 14443 specifications and achieve excellent radio frequency performance even with the small antennas. MasterCard PayPass is widely used in the U.S. as a means for making fast and convenient “Tap & Go™” payments. To perform a PayPass transaction using a card or a key fob, users simply tap it on the contactless symbol of a PayPass reader to initiate the transaction.

G&D’s Contactless Product Suite offers financial institutions a wide range of form factors and antenna technologies to choose from. The antennas are either printed onto the card or made of copper wire. Both types come in either mini- or half-size antenna format. Especially with the mini-antenna, financial institutions can now offer efficient and flexible solutions for chip-based payment in completely new forms.

Half-size antennas are also used for the traditional card format and are located in the upper portion of the card. It leaves the embossing area completely intact and allows for the essential fourth line embossing, necessary for credit/debit cards. Just like any other card, it can also carry the traditional magnetic stripe. “We have taken G&D’s expertise in both printing and contactless technology and bundled it in a way that benefits financial institutions, who can then use the new, handy formats and innovative marketing concepts to reach new customer segments,” comments Michael Kuemmerle, Head of G&D’s Payment Division.

About Giesecke & Devrient:

Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) is a technology leader in the field of smart cards, providing smart card-based solutions for the fields of telecommunications, electronic payment, health care, ID, transportation, and Internet security (PKI). G&D is also a leading producer of banknotes and security documents and is dominant in the field of currency automation. Based in Munich, Germany, the G&D group has subsidiaries and joint ventures around the world. The Group employs over 7,200 people and generates annual revenue over