Gemalto achieves certification from Saudi Arabia
03 June, 2009
category: Financial
Gemalto announced that its Optelio banking card has been certified to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) requirements. Optelio is designed for the local market, as it hosts the Saudi Payments Network (SPAN) application, the debit card functionality deployed in Saudi Arabia.
The Gemalto product is also compatible with the GlobalPlatform specifications, the Visa Electron and the Debit MasterCard and Maestro Card requirements, making it usable worldwide.
These certifications enable Gemalto to complete its existing Multos offer for the Saudi Arabian banking market, the largest in the Gulf Region with more than 10 million debit cards in use, and to support local financial institutions in their EMV migration.
Optelio lets dual-issuer banks deliver either Visa’s VSDC or MasterCard’s M/Chip applications on the same product, with the flexibility offered by the GlobalPlatform standard. In the personalization phase, banks can implement either scheme using the same infrastructure, which significantly simplifies logistics.