Press Release

EMV compliant mass transit initiative South Africa: “trailblazing innovation”

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Brussels, 20 April 2011 – Clear2Pay, the international technology provider of next generation payment solutions for financial institutions, today announces it has won the Contactless Monkey Award in the category “Trailblazing and Innovation”. The “Trailblazing and Innovation” Award is given to companies who have done the most to further the boundaries of contactless technology either through technology introduction or pilot programs.

The award was granted for the South Africa EMV Contactless Payment and Electronic Fare Collection Program, a joint project with South African consultancy firms Keith Smith Consulting and Techso Smart Solutions . The project, the first EMV-based eTicketing transport program on the African continent, aims to modernise South-Africa’s public transport, transforming it into an integrated system by implementing a contactless Automatic Fare Collection based on EMV payment standards. The contactless card initiative will enable commuters both convenient ticket purchasing as well as low value retail payments.

The fourth edition of the award, wich is organized yearly by Contactless Intelligence, an innovative marketing platform for contactless technologies, saw a record number of entries, underlining the growing significance of contactless payment applications.

Steve Atkins, CEO of Krowne Communications, the company behind Contactless Intelligence, states: “Whereas other awards ceremonies focus on behind-the-scenes technological innovations, we honour those firms that are really making a difference and cross the Rubicon in getting contactless devices into the hands of users and encouraging consumers to use them at both major international and small retailers throughout the world.”

Marie Costers,  Head of the Test Tools Competence Centre at Clear2Pay adds: ”We are delighted to be part of this prestigeous project in South-Africa, a country where Clear2Pay is active at present implementing several payment solutions. The partnership with Keith Smith Consulting and Techso Smart Solutions brought us the local sector knowledge and public transport expertise we needed to complete our certification laboratory in Cape Town where banks and third parties can locally certify their products to ensure optimal interoperability between cards and devices. This type of partnership whereby we offer our customers a total and rich solution, rather than just technology, is part of our DNA and we are very proud to have jointly won this award.”

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About Clear2Pay

Clear2Pay is a payments modernisation 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 organisations in their provision of payments services, whether they be Card, ACH, Branch, Bulk, High Care or International payment transactions. Clear2Pay's innovative 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, the Integri Open Test Platform, ChargeBack, Strategic 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 www.clear2pay.com.

About Techso Smart Solutions

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: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it


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:  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it    

For more information:

Clear2Pay NV/SA
Steve Lacourt - Marketing and Communications
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
T: +32 (0) 27 17 69 00