Packaging
Commerzbank Awards Major Three-year Contract for Payment Cards to Giesecke & Devrient
Wednesday 12. November 2008 - Germanys biggest smart-card manufacturer wins exclusive contract to deliver several million debit and credit cards to Commerzbank customers up to 2011
Commerzbank has selected Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) to be the sole supplier of its credit and debit cards for the next three years. The bank is likely to require several million cards over this period. As well as issuing cards under its own name, Commerzbank also issues co-branded cards in partnership with firms such as Steigenberger, TUI, Robinson and Advocard.
“Commerzbank enjoys a reputation among the German banking community for actively driving new technologies. Giesecke & Devrient has been lending us its support for many years now with its leading-edge technology and card products,” commented Commerzbank Vice President Sylvia Vandeven and Assistant Vice President Kerstin Liesenfeld. “It is thanks to a new product development by G&D, for instance, that we recently launched a series of scented credit cards that emit a fragrance of coffee, orange or cinnamon, making an ordinary payment card into a small sensory experience. The original idea was also a result of our close collaboration with G&D.”
“This exclusive contract from Commerzbank represents an important milestone in the German banking industrys migration to SECCOS. We are very pleased that our longstanding relationship with Commerzbank has produced such a gratifying result,” confirms Axel Deininger, Head of G&Ds Payment division.
The new debit cards will be based on the latest version of the Secure Chip Card Operating System, SECCOS 6.1, in accordance with specifications defined by the German Central Banking Committee (ZKA). SECCOS-based cards provide a platform for a multitude of applications, including EMV debit girocards (ec cash), Maestro (MasterCard), V-Pay (Visa) and EMV credit cards (MasterCard or Visa). The chip can also be used for electronic signatures, to generate transaction numbers (TANs) for home banking and online shopping, as a source of electronic cash (GeldKarte) and to implement age restrictions for cash dispensers and on the Internet.