Clear2Pay to provide Test Tools and Certification Services to South-Africa’s EMV contactless public transport program
Brussels, 26 January 2011 – Clear2Pay, the international technology provider of next generation payment solutions for financial institutions, today announces it has signed an agreement with Techso (Pty) Ltd., appointed by the South-African National Department of Transport (NDOT), in association with Keith Smith Consulting. Clear2Pay has been selected to develop the functional test solutions for the public transport specific EMV contactless cards and payment terminals. Additionally, Clear2Pay will deploy a certification laboratory in Cape Town, enabling banks and third party vendors to locally qualify their cards and devices. This will support the strategic objectives of facilitating Automated Fare Collection (AFC) via bank issued contactless payment cards.
The number of commuters that rely on public transport in South-Africa is expanding rapidly. The government is therefore modernising the country’s public transport infrastructure and services, transforming it into an integrated Automatic Fare Collection system. Various initiatives are currently being deployed in South Africa with a minibus taxi project already underway in the North West Province and imminent rollouts of new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and other public transport services in the cities of Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg. Before rolling out the EMV contactless cards and payment terminals, banks and third party vendors are required to submit their cards and devices to a mandatory certification process in order to validate their equipment against a set of specifications designed to ensure interoperability across all public transport services. To facilitate this, Clear2Pay will establish a local certification laboratory for which the company will collaborate with its local partner Iplex. The Integri branded test tools will be available for pre-certification purposes enabling vendors to prepare for official qualification. The new contactless card-based payment system is built on field-proven EMV technology, enabling the use of cards for low value retail payments as well. Kobus Lombard, Consultant and Project Manager at Techso comments:”It’s a pleasure to work on this prestigious project with Clear2Pay. Building on years of experience in certifying and testing payment devices, they were able to offer the creative solution we were looking for.” Jean de Crane, Chief Operating Officer at Clear2Pay adds: “Today, contactless ticketing solutions already ease the daily travel routine of millions of people around the world and Clear2Pay is eager to be instrumental in the further mass market adoption. As a company we are familiar with the highly innovative nature of the South African marketplace through the work we do with Standard Bank of South Africa and others. We are therefore delighted to be involved in the first EMV contactless public transport payment solution in Africa which will offer travellers the convenience of payments on-the-go.”
-end- About Clear2Pay
Clear2Pay is an innovative financial technology company that actively supports many global financial institutions to meet their payments unification goals through its pure SOA Open Payment Framework (OPF). Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, the company facilitates banks and financial organizations in their provision of payments services, whether they be Card, ACH, Branch, Bulk, High Care or International payment transactions. Clear2Pay's technology helps to reduce transactions processing costs, and to deliver new, compelling payment services in a competitive way. Functions embrace payments origination, reporting, linkage with back-office processing systems, clearing, netting and settlement. In addition the company offers a range of value added payment technology solutions and services such as e-Banking, Testing Tools, ChargeBack, Consultancy and Payments Training through a dedicated Academy. Clients include global and major regional financial institutions such as ING, Banco Santander, Crédit Agricole, VISA, MasterCard, BNP Paribas, The Federal Reserve, NETS (Denmark), The People Bank of China (PBOC), Bank of East Asia, Rabobank, The Co-operative Financial Services and Commonwealth Bank. Clear2Pay operates out of Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, China, Malaysia and Singapore and currently employs over 650 staff. Recently, the company was awarded the XCelent Customer Base 2010 award for its undisputed largest payment hub customer base, both live and under implementation. For more information, please visit http://clear2pay.com/. About Techso Ltd.
Techso is a solutions-driven company, providing services in Transportation, Law, and Technology Applications. The company is based in South Africa with its head office in Pretoria. Techso is involved in the design and implementation of many cutting-edge technology related projects, including automated fare collection in public transport, freeway management systems design & operations, as well as overload control systems. Its client base includes the South African National Depart of Transport, the South African National Roads Agency, City of Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Authority, Buffalo City Municipality, City of Tshwane, the Johannesburg Roads Agency and the eThekwini Transport Authority. For more information, contact:
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About Keith Smith Consulting
Keith Smith, an independent consultant since 2003, specializes in payment systems and is a consultant to a number of organisations within the banking and payment technologies industries as well as to a number of South African Government initiated projects. Keith introduced the concept of “Payment Systems in Public Transport” to regulatory authorities and other stakeholders in the South African public transport industry. This includes the use of a banking industry issued payment product based on contactless smart card technology for Electronic Fare Collection in public transport. The concept overcomes many of the challenges presented by proprietary technology ticketing systems related to integrated public transport services and infrastructure, and facilitates interoperability of electronic fare collection across all modes and services of public transport.
Keith Smith Consulting currently facilitates cooperation between all relevant stakeholders in the banking and payments industry, public transport regulatory authorities and operators, as well as technology providers, to collaborate on the use of a bank issued payment product for Electronic Fare Collection. This will enable the implementation of an Electronic Fare Collection system which is interoperable across all modes and services of public transport in South Africa. Keith has consulted in South Africa and internationally on numerous projects and is a specialist in investigating, developing and implementing payment systems and technologies as well as the regulatory aspects of payment systems. For more information, contact:
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For more information:
Clear2Pay NV/SA
Steve Lacourt - Marketing and Communications
Email:
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T: +32 (0) 27 17 69 00
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