SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 16, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- VeriFone Inc., the worldwide leader in electronic payment solutions, today announced that EDCON - one of South Africa's largest retail groups listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange - has positioned itself at the forefront of secure smart card payment, debit card acceptance and loyalty card capability with a countrywide rollout of VeriFone SC 5000 programmable point of sale (POS) PINpads.
In an initial deal worth 12 million Rand (U.S. $1.7 million), secure e-payments company Prism Holdings together with First National Bank have implemented the sophisticated programmable POS technology into Edgars, CNA and United Retail (Jet, Sales House, Cuthberts and Smileys) stores throughout South Africa.
Apart from supplying the initial 700 VeriFone SC 5000 PINpads, Prism has developed an integrated payment application for the terminals into Edcon's existing POS system.
The SC 5000s support global smart card solutions based on the EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) specifications as well as existing magnetic stripe debit and credit cards.
In addition, the SC 5000 raises the level of fraud protection for PIN-based debit card transactions as it adheres to the Triple DES (3DES) encryption standards being adopted by the payment industry around the world.
The terminal also features an integrated smart card reader with support for Security Access Module (SAM) slots to enable acceptance of a broad range of smart card-based loyalty and electronic purse schemes.
EMV is a global standard for the design, security, and functionality of smart card terminals and applications.
"Visa and MasterCard have mandated that all POS terminals must be EMV-compliant by early-2005. With the rollout of the VeriFone SC 5000s, Edcon is comfortably on track to beat that deadline," commented Geordie Blane, Edcon Customer Relationship Manager at Prism.
Whereas magnetic stripe cards are open to the skimming of account data off the card itself, smart cards securely store that data on the silicon chip providing increased levels of transaction security to the payments industry. The EMV standard paves the way for the eventual elimination of card skimming related fraud.
Edcon's integration of the SC5000 electronic payment model at each POS terminal creates a standard platform upon which the group is expanding its payment options to customers.
Prism Holdings' transaction switching entity, Prism TranSwitch Services (PTSS), provides the links to the banking sector and to other systems' Point-Of-Sale infrastructure. With Edcon as a client, PTSS now switches card payment and other value-added service transactions to over 600 stores.
Andre Beukes from FNB emphasized that a key consideration for FNB was to procure devices on behalf of Edcon so as to ensure the provision of a mutually beneficial partnership relationship underpinned by reliable, state-of-the-art and fully EMV compliant pin entry devices for integration with the existing Edcon architecture. Based on Prism's existing relationship with Edcon and also their well-established position in the South African retailer environment, FNB and Edcon's strategic partnership decision was to continue to procure devices from Prism.
Peter Sutcliffe, Chief Technology Officer of Edcon stated that the group's decision to purchase the VeriFone SC5000 model was based on the need to enhance the current POS infrastructure to accept EMV smart card payments. As a result Edcon has strategically positioned its systems to participate in a national South African EMV pilot scheduled for early 2004.
About VeriFone, Inc.
VeriFone, Inc., (http://www.verifone.com) recognized worldwide as the trusted leader in secure electronic payment technologies, provides expertise, solutions and services for today with a smart migration strategy for tomorrow. VeriFone is leading the industry in the delivery of solutions that add value to the point of sale, resulting in improved merchant retention and the generation of new sources of revenue for its partners and customers. VeriFone solutions are specifically designed to meet the needs of vertical markets including financial, retail, petroleum, government and healthcare. VeriFone has shipped over eleven million electronic payment systems.
About Edcon
The Edcon Group is a speciality retailer operating over 600 stores throughout South Africa, Namibia and adjacent territories each targeting a focused market segment. Today, the Group comprises Edgars, ABC and United Retail which includes Sales House, Jet, Cuthberts and Smiley.
About Prism Holdings:
JSE-listed Prism Holdings Limited (JSE:PIM) is a leader in the field of secure electronic transaction products, solutions and services. The Group has a strong presence in South Africa and an established and expanding footprint across Africa and South-East Asia.
Prism has a proven track record in the delivery of secure electronic payment technologies and end-to-end solutions for the retail, utilities, banking, cellular and petroleum industries. The Group has developed and implemented innovative payment-centric Intellectual Property that bridges the following technologies:
-- Chip cards including SIM cards, financial smart cards
and telephone cards
-- Point-of-Sale frameworks, applications and devices
-- OEM transaction modules including PINpads, card readers
and self-service terminals
-- Transaction security modules and servers
-- Payment servers, messaging gateways and value-added
-services gateways
-- End-to-end secure electronic payment architectures for
wired and wireless networks.
About First National Bank Corporate, Merchant Acquiring (FNB):
FirstRand Ltd. has two wholly owned subsidiaries, namely FirstRand Bank Holdings and the Momentum Group. FNB Corporate forms part of FirstRand Bank Holdings, whose subsidiaries are involved in retail, corporate and investment banking activities.
The acquiring partnership with FNB in South Africa will provide Edcon with a long-term financial services relationship with a leading and innovative acquirer of which the benefits include the provision by FNB of a high availability, industry proven and reliable processing infrastructure which is complemented by extremely efficient administration support processes. The acquiring area is an autonomous division within FNB Corporate and is widely acknowledged as a leading acquirer of POS card based electronic transactions. This area is responsible for full end-to-end POS service offerings to many thousands of merchants countrywide, which includes major retailers. These state-of-the-art, high availability solutions are tailored to meet specific business needs as is evidenced by the innovative partnership with Edcon.