De La Rue to provide ATM cards for Egg customers

United Kingdom -- De La Rue Card Systems, one of the world's leading suppliers of smart cards, has signed a contract with Egg - Prudential's 24-hour direct banking service - to supply magnetic stripe cards that Egg customers can use at either Midland Bank ATMs or The Royal Bank of Scotland "Cashline" ATMs throughout the UK.

Egg is looking ahead to the UK's switch to smart cards. The Association for Payment Clearing Services recently announced that all debit, credit and cash cards issued by UK banks will be "smart," following the successful completion of trials with De La Rue smart debit/credit cards.

Geof Hanley, Egg project manager, said, "Egg sees De La Rue as the ideal partner to drive the transition from magnetic stripe to microprocessor (smart) cards. Potentially allowing applications such as banking, loyalty, pension and insurance policy details to be loaded onto one card, smart cards will provide essential customer information for sales and marketing purposes and offer Egg customers a convenient and easy-to-use transaction card."

Ian Robson, president Northern Europe, De La Rue Card Systems, added, "This is an exciting time for both Prudential and De La Rue as we are at the brink of a new banking revolution that will bring enhanced benefits to card users. We feel that this is just the beginning of Egg's innovative banking offerings and look forward to working with Egg on the introduction of chip-based cards."

Launched in October, Egg offers savings, loans and mortgages over the telephone and Internet. Prudential's commitment to Egg is reflected in its investment of 1,500 new jobs, to be created over three years at its Derby call center.