In a move that could boost its presence in the North American market, German smart card company Giesecke & Devrient has opened a new facility in Ontario, Canada.
With double the footprint of the company’s previous facility, the new Ontario site should help ensure that Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) has enough capacity to meet North American demand for smart cards used in electronic payment systems, high security ID documents, and new applications such as customer loyalty programs.
Canadians will see their credit and debit cards migrate to EMV technology within the next several years, representing one of the most significant changes ever for the Canadian banking sector. A total of approximately 60 million credit cards and 37 million debit cards will be replaced by chip card versions.
G&D’s facility will provide complete card solutions that cover the entire lifecycle of a smart card, from the development of card applications and card design through to printing the laminated cards, embedding the chips, card personalization, and shipping. The production facility has been certified by Visa, MasterCard, and Amex.
In other recent news, G&D announced that its trial to provide contactless EMV cards to the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was underway. The cards were given to RBS staff, allowing them to make small payments by tapping the cards past a reader, as part of a field trial to test out the technology in the UK.