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Web ChangesThis is where we'll announce the most recent additions to our web site. If you've visited us before and want to know what's changed, take a look here first. Check out our News Blog for latest chipcard and card media reports! 20 January 2004: ComputerWorld Jan 2004: Chips in Passports 19 January, 2004: Chip passports for NZ 16 December, 2003: "Contactless Cards" news. 2 February, 2004: Dominion Post: ETSL hurries switch to smartcards. 10 March, 2004: Information Week: US urged to take the lead in issuing biometric passports. 10 March, 2004:: Security Pieline- Bolstering Security with Smartcards and tokens 17 March, 2004: NZ Herald - EFT-POS fights fraudsters 5 April, 2004: MasterCard launches OneSmart in New Zealand. 13 April, 2004: Dominion Post, NZ: Passport upgrade goes to tender 13 April, 2004: Dominion Post - Banks face cost of ATM upgrades 13 April, 2004: Tech News World - Microsoft Sold On SmartCards 22 April, 2004: Butler Group Limited - Supporting Chip & PIN 22 April, 2004: eMedia NSTP - EMV Chips gain strong momentum 27 April, 2004: Network World Fusion - U.K. passport agency begins trial on biometric IDs 28 April, 2004: NZ Herald - Online scam sparks bank security scare
NewsThis is where we'll announce the most recent news in the world of financial payment system chipcards.
NZ Herald, 28 April, 2004 Online scam sparks bank security scare "A sweeping review of internet banking security is being done after international criminals stole up to $100,000 from online customers. Under new security measures being considered by banks throughout New Zealand, online customers may be given withdrawal restrictions, sent passwords through text messages and given security cards to allow them access to their bank accounts." See the full article here
Network World Fusion, 27 April, 2004 U.K Passport Agency begins trial on biometric passports "The U.K. Passport Service Monday launched its six month trial of biometric technology involving 10,000 volunteers, the same day that the U.K. government introduced its draft bill for potentially compulsory biometric identity cards and a central database of all of its citizens." See the full article here
eMedia NSTP, 22 April 2004 EMV Chips gain strong momentum "THE migration from magnetic stripe to the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip standard promises enhanced credit card security, and the opportunity to offer loyalty and reward programmes to cardholders. Thus, Visa and MasterCard are busy championing the standard with various initiatives." See the full article here
Enterprise Networks & Servers, 22 April 2004 Supporting Chip & PIN "The UK's largest smart card initiative developed to date is to be rolled out next year with the new Chip and Pin credit and debit card project. This push to replace all magnetic stripe credit and debit cards with the inherently (for today at least) more secure smart card technology is being driven by the leading financial institutions with the key objective of removing, or at least significantly reducing, common credit card fraud. However, while following the progress of this gigantic project, it is easy to overlook some of the cleverer technology that is being used to drive the solution forward." See the full article here
Tech News World, 28 March, 2004 Microsoft Sold On SmartCards For the full story on how Microsoft has converted their internal security to smartcards and PKI technologies, visit Tech News World
Dominion Post, 12 April, 2004 Banks face cost of ATM upgrades "New Zealand banks face a bill of a few million dollars upgrading their ATM machines over the next two or three years to meet security standards being imposed by Mastercard and Visa. Claire Shufflebotham, a security consultant with American technology giant NCR, says some ATMs have yet to be upgraded to read chip-based smartcards to meet a January 2006 target. Most ATMs also need new keypads called Encrypting Pin Pads (EPPs) to support a new encryption standard called Triple DES by a deadline of July 2007." See the full article here
Dominion Post, 12 April, 2004Passport upgrade goes to
tender The partner is expected to be chosen by the end of the month." See the full article here
MasterCard International Press Release- 24 March, 2004 MasterCard launches OneSmart in New Zealand "Building on its global leadership position in smart card technology, MasterCard International has launched its OneSMART(tm) Mastercard(r) programme in New Zealand this week, offering financial institutions a myriad of technological solutions for migration to EMV-compliant smart cards. The first of its kind in Australasia, OneSMART MasterCard features, under one umbrella, all the technological solutions and support required for financial institutions to migrate to EMV-compliant cards and terminal solutions. All new smart card-capable EFT-POS terminals in New Zealand are required to be EMV-compliant by January 2006. After that, banks and retailers will be held liable if non-EMV terminals are used to process EMV cards." See the full article here
New Zealand Herald, 17 March, 2004 EFT-POS fights Fraudsters "Retailers will have to replace about 35,000 eftpos terminals by the end of next year in a move to crack down on fraud. The larger of the country's two eftpos network operators, ETSL, has set a schedule for retailers to adopt international standards for electronic payments developed by the main credit card companies and known as EMV (Europay, Mastercard, Visa). About 35,000 older terminals will have to be replaced by January 2006, and another 50,000 terminals will be replaced by 2008." See the full article here
Security Pipeline, 10 March, 2004 Bolstering security with smartcards and tokens When it comes to security, user names and passwords aren't getting the job done. And the threats are growing. The solution, security vendors say, is to make it more difficult to access business networks and applications, while still keeping procedures easy enough so users don't rise up in protest.New approaches to more-secure access focus on smart cards and one-time password tokens, which add a second step to logging on to a network and gaining access to applications. See the full article here.
Information Week, 10 March, 2004 US urged to take the lead in issuing biometric passports The State Department should begin issuing passports with chips containing biographic information later in the year; an assistant secretary of state says the United States needs to take the lead to encourage other nations to issue similar passports. See the full article here.
Dominion Post, 20 February, 2004 Bank fee complaints passed on Customer complaints to the Banking Ombudsman may have helped convince the Commerce Commission to cast its eye over the currency conversion fees banks charge on overseas credit card purchases. "BusinessDay reported on Monday that since last year the commission has been investigating how banks represent the fees and is close to completing its inquiry. The investigation is being conducted under the terms of the Fair Trading Act. " See the full article here.
Dominion Post, 9 February, 2004 SSC gets advice on e-identity "Technology companies say it may make sense to let the private sector piggy-back on a government project to identify people accessing government services online. The State Services Commission issued a request for information (RFI) to technology providers in November for a system to authenticate the identity of people accessing e-government services. " See the full article here.
Dominion Post, 2 February 2004 ETSL hurries switch to smartcards "Eftpos network operator ETSL has ordered that almost all new eftpos terminals that are connected to its network, as of today, must be capable of accepting chip-based smart cards. The mandate was outlined in a bulletin to eftpos terminal vendors. It was described by industry commentators as "aggressive but necessary". ETSL aims to ensure most terminals can accept smart cards conforming to the international EMV standard by the end of 2006 and all by 2008" See the full article here.
ComputerWorld, January 20, 2004 "Confronted with a US requirement for travellers into the country to have a digitised version of their photograph for cross-checking, Passports (NZ), part of the Department of Internal Affairs, has moved quickly. It expects to have the required microchip embedded in new passports by the deadline date of October 26 this year." See the full article here.
"New Zealand is moving at full steam to implement microchip-based "biometric" passports that can store a digitised version of people's passport photo, and potentially fingerprints. Sue Boland, general manager of the Identity Services division of Internal Affairs, says the division is already developing the systems and processes needed, but declines to estimate the potential cost. Identity Services will go to the market for technology to implement the microchip passport project in March." See the full article here.
Wave the Card for Instant Credit"08:27 AM Dec. 14, 2003 PT NEW YORK -- The familiar process of buying something with a credit card -- handing the plastic to the clerk or swiping it yourself, then waiting for approval and signing the receipt -- could be headed the way of the mechanical brass cash register. For more than a year, MasterCard and American Express have been testing "contactless" versions of their credit cards. The cards need only be held near a special reader for a sale to go through -- though the consumer can still get a receipt." See the full article here.
Visa says discussions continue over proposed fee hike 20 May 2003 "Credit card company Visa says it is still in discussions with supermarket companies, which have protested a proposed commission fee hike." See the full article here
Supermarkets threaten to boycott Visa
"Major supermarkets are threatening to boycott Visa cards as the credit giant tries to raise its fees." See full article here
Smart cards raise cost of eftpos 18 May 2003 "To combat credit card fraud, the country's retailers are being forced to upgrade eftpos terminals to a new international standard. If they don't, they could be liable for the cost of any fraud - as could banks." See full article here.
Multi-application smart cards: The next property boom? Check out the role of multi-application smart cards in the upcoming technology growth sector, in a paper contributed to by Chipcards ltd's Richard Kernick.
Chip Cards Break Out of Their Shell Last year saw momentum building for smart cards with retailer Target, issuer Citibank, MasterCard, and the government either beginning or expanding programs using the chip. Is a real business case at hand? Full article can be found here.
Two Australian Banks Plan Multiapplication Projects Copyright, Thomson Media, 2002, All Rights Reserved. 30 August
2002
Visa, MasterCard Double Smart Cards In Asia-Pacific Copyright, Thomson Media, 2002, All Rights Reserved. 30 August
2002
The PwC Consulting web page featured a Thought Leadership article, "Multi Application Smart Cards: The Next Property Boom" by Dr. Gordon Clarke of PwC Consultings Central Europe Financial Services practice. Richard Kernick of Chipcards ltd worked with Dr Clarke from 1998 on a number of projects. A copy of this publication can be obtained from PWC Consulting at www.pwcconsulting.com To download a copy of this document, click here. This document requires Adobe Acrobat to view. If you do not have Adobe Reader, click to download.
Visa sues Reserve Bank over fee cuts Credit card company Visa International yesterday took the unprecedented step of taking legal action against Australia's central bank over its plans to cut the hidden fees earned by banks on credit cards. The move threatens to delay sweeping reforms next year that will introduce surcharging for credit cards, allow new competitors into the Visa and MasterCard schemes and lower so-called interchange fees now levied on transactions. Visa's executive vice-president for Australia and New Zealand, Gordon Wheaton, said Visa would seek a declaration that the Reserve Bank's "designation" or regulatory oversight of Visa was invalid and argue the bank had acted beyond its powers under the Payments Systems (Regulation) Act. "At the end of the day we have nowhere else but a court for our appeal," Mr Wheaton said. MasterCard is expected to follow with a similar action, but the other main losers from the reforms, the major banks, mostly ruled out becoming involved in the action. The RBA said in a statement it was disappointed Visa had chosen to take legal action but would vigorously defend the reforms. The action is scheduled for a directions hearing in the Federal Court on October 11. The Treasurer, Peter Costello, also expressed disappointment at Visa's course of action. "It is regrettable that they have decided to take legal action but they are entitled to do so," he said. Australian Retailers Association's policy officer Stan Moore said: "This is nothing more than a last desperate attempt to delay a necessary reform. The only ones to be disadvantaged by this action are merchants and, of course, consumers." The director of the Financial Services Consumer Policy Centre at the University of NSW Law Faculty, Chris Connolly, said Visa's legal challenge was "arrogant and unlikely to succeed". Visa was probably trying to send a message to regulators in other countries that it would challenge any attempt to reform credit card schemes, he said. The Australian Consumers Association finance policy officer, Catherine Wolthuizen, said there had been exhaustive consultation. "Consumers are the winners from these reforms and the Reserve Bank should stand its ground," she said. Mr Wheaton claimed the legal action had the full support of the banks, but said they did not join Visa in litigation because they did not rate the chances of success highly and did not want to deal with the publicity. A spokeswoman for National Australia Bank said: "We are not a party to the litigation and we have been pretty consistent that our view was that reforms to the credit card industry can be dealt with by negotiation and we have been through that process ... and we have accepted the RBA's decision. We won't be voluntarily forming any part of legal action against them." An ANZ spokesman said: "While the RBA decision was disappointing, the regulator has made the decision and it's time to get on with running the business." Original content copyright to The Sydney Morning Herald
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