World’s 1st Islamic PayPass Debit MasterCard 12:14AM, 21-Jul-2009 MasterCard together with EONCAP Islamic Bank (a member of the EON Bank Group) has launched the world's 1st Islamic Debit MasterCard card equipped with PayPass contactless payment capabilities – the EONCAP Islamic Debit MasterCard card.

ANZ Launches Australia’s 1st Prepaid Contactless Card 12:14AM, 21-Jul-2009 ANZ and Visa announced the launch of the 1st reloadable, prepaid contactless card in Australia. The new ANZ Stadium Visa payWave card was launched at ANZ Stadium in Sydney where it was offered initially to 2,000 ANZ Stadium members for use during the Bledisloe Cup held recently.

GHL Integrates Contactless Into Legacy Setting 12:10AM, 21-Jul-2009 Since its inception in March 2004, Zouk KL has become a nightspot of choice in the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the more discerning clubbers and a household name   for urban socialites. Constantly reinventing and revolutionising its unique brand of party experience, patrons are seeking a hassle-free payment that is speedy, efficient and most importantly, secure. In keeping with Zouk KL’s upbeat  club experience, GHL’s VersaRead contactless readers were introduced recently as an alternative credit payment mode via Visa payWave. VersaRead is also the world’s 1st MasterCard, Visa and JCB type-approved contactless reader with all applications residing in the same reader.

Gemalto Delivers Electronic ARC Cards To Taiwan 12:10AM, 21-Jul-2009 Gemalto announced that it is the supplier of electronic Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) cards to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) in Taiwan. Compared to the existing paper cards, the Gemalto Sealys microprocessor version bolsters security by drastically improving resistance to forgery and counterfeiting. Uniquely, these contactless cards are the 1st e-ID documents built on the strengths of e-Passport technology. These cards are also the 1st electronic foreigner identification cards in Asia. Gemalto has already delivered 300,000 of these ID cards and the NIA plans to achieve replacement of all remaining paper cards by 2009.

ACS Providing Smart Card Tech Training To CUHK 12:10AM, 21-Jul-2009 ACS provided a two-day Smart Card Technology Training to the Information Technology Services Centre (ITSC) of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). The training took place at ACS’ HQ with Tan Keng Boon, CTO, ACS as the main trainer.

Just Wave, Pay & Go At Starbucks 12:09AM, 21-Jul-2009 Visa and Starbucks in Korea have announced an exclusive partnership whereby Starbucks customers can simply pay for their purchases with a wave of their Visa payWave-enabled card or mobile phone.

Smart Cards For 2008 Olympics 12:06AM, 21-Jul-2009 The Bank of China (BoC) and the China Everbright Bank are offering their customers special Visa Olympic edition credit cards. China Mobile is marketing a gift box containing 6 prepaid telephone cards, which is the 4th set of commemorative cards for 2008 Beijing Olympic Games launched by China Mobile. The Olympic smart cards are supplied by G+D.

Gemalto Completes 53 Million OTA Updates In China 12:06AM, 21-Jul-2009 Gemalto announced the successful completion of over 53 million OTA updates of GSM and CDMA mobile customers representing 6.3 billion short messages across 8 provinces in China. This demonstrates how useful and also how efficient OTA campaigns have become as a fundamental tool for SIM card data administrative management and even complete application download and activation.

IHG 1st To Accept Bank Cards For Online Reservations 12:06AM, 21-Jul-2009 InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) achieved yet another industry's first, becoming the only international hotel group in China to accept locally-issued bank cards for online hotel reservations. The company recently signed an innovative partnership with ChinaPay, an online payment solution provider, giving Chinese guests who do not carry foreign bank cards, access to real-time hotel confirmations and online payments.

Evolis Opens Tokyo Office For Asia Support 04:46PM, 15-Mar-2009 Evolis announced the opening of a representative office in Japan. Evolis has operated in Japan for several years through a network of partner distributors, and now builds up its efforts in the Japanese market with the opening of a representative office in the heart of Tokyo. This move is a part of a global expansion strategy to capture a larger market share in Asia, thanks to the Japanese market which is keen on innovative solutions and premium quality products.