News

ACI, Interac begin shift toward chip-card in Canada

April 14, 2005

OMAHA, Neb. - ACI Worldwide (Nasdaq: TSAI), an international provider of enterprise payment solutions, has responded to Canadian national network Interac Association's decision to have a Canadian chip-card infrastructure in place within two years, according to a news release.

Two Canadian customers have already licensed EMV-compliant software from ACI.

Interac announced an aggressive plan to offer shared services using chip cards. The target date for the first chip transaction is scheduled for early 2007.

ACI Canada has worked with Interac on developing EMV debit specifications and achieving full support of the specifications within ACI's core BASE24 solutions.

"Chip card solutions are a natural extension of our payments processing footprint," said Mark Vipond, president of ACI Worldwide. "Interac's migration to chip-card technology represents a significant investment, and our products will enable Canadian financial institutions to take advantage of this investment with proven, low-risk technology."

ACI's EMV-enabled software supports transactions initiated at multiple delivery channels, from ATMs and point-of-sale devices to wireless telephones and PCs connected to the Internet. ACI has added new features to its BASE24 and BASE24-es payment solutions to support the processing of EMV authentication. Those products, along with the ACI Card Management System and ACI Smart Chip Manager, support the issuance and management of both magnetic-stripe and chip cards.