MasterCard-branded smart cards up 50% to 12 million

The number of MasterCard-branded smart cards issued in the Asia Pacific region grew by 50 percent to 12 million in the first six months of the year. Majority of the smart cards carry value-added applications such as electronic cash and loyalty in addition to the secure M/Chip payment applications.

Jeff Portelli, MasterCard International senior vice president for Asia Pacific said that smart cards are being recognized as a robust technology platform and not just a standard product.

"As a leader in global e-business, MasterCard is providing its member financial institutions with customized, meaningful solutions by creating smart cards that not only provide a new way to deliver payments but also a unique, cost effective paty to business-partnerships and a highly secured, more efficient delivery mechanism," Portelli stated.

He added that its strength could be atrtributed to a combination of strong global smart card programs, lower costs of multi-aplication cards, strong support around the region for Mondez, and the development of new, innovative applications.

It launched its MULTOS-based multi-application smart card under the $2.99 chip program in December 2000. This year, the cost of this state-of-the-art 16K card was reduced by 33 percent to $1.99.

The 16K chip includes MasterCard’s EMV-compliant M/Chip credit/decit application, Mondex e-cash, public key infrastructure (PKI) file storage and PKI identification applications. The ability to offer such high specification smart card features at a competitive price was made possible by the increased number of cards issued.

Recent entrants into MasterCard’s $1.99 chip program are ID Data (UK), CPI Card Group (USA), KDN Smartec (Korea), and IC Korea. It is also getting continued endorsement from KeyCorp Ltd. (Australia), Orga Card Systems (Singapore), AMS Co. (Korea), DZ Card (Southeast Asia), FoongTone Technology (Taiwan), Kyodo Printing (Japan), and Toppan Form HK (Hong Kong).

In June 2003, BancNet, MasterCard and Mondex in the Philippines entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in which MasterCard would support BancNet in its move towards EMV-compliance. Mondex, in turn, would provide BancNet with a framework for an e-purse system, allowing member banks to issue Mondex cards to their customers.