September 12, 2005
WATFORD, England - ACI Worldwide, an international provider of enterprise e-payment solutions, announced in a Sept. 13 news release the licensing of its ACI Smart Chip Manager software to Qatar National Bank.
The software will enable Qatar's largest bank to introduce new smart cards and comply with forthcoming EMV international standards in advance of the January 2006 compliance deadline for the Middle East and Africa.
"Qatar is developing its banking infrastructure at a rapid pace by investing in state-of-the-art technology for both present and future market requirements, and QNB is leading the way with this deployment," said Richard Launder, the Europe, Middle East and Africa managing director at ACI Worldwide.
The software will help QNB issue, manage and handle the data preparation for smart cards as the migration continues from magnetic stripe to chip-based cards that enable single and multiple applications to be hosted on one card. It also will provide QNB with the ability to fully manage the lifecycle of each EMV smart card, from issuance to application parameter setting and adjustment. The solution also supports management of the personalization and production of QNB's cards.