Geneva,
July 17, 2003 - STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) today announced
that CSOB Bank in the Czech Republic and Kredyt Bank Poland have received
VISA certification for the personalization of their Proton Prisma
cards and will begin a mass roll-out of these cards in the next few
weeks. Both banks are part of the KBC Bank & Insurance Group, one
of Europe's important financial groups and leading financial institutions
in Central and Eastern Europe, which signed a license agreement with
Proton World International in 2002 allowing a number of KBC's associated
banks in Central and Eastern Europe to start implementing the Proton
Prisma multi-application smart card technology.
In 2002, Kredyt Bank began working with Proton World International,
which was acquired by STMicroelectronics in April 2003, to implement
the infrastructure required to allow issuance of Proton Prisma EMV
cards. Kredyt Bank installed MATRIX, which is the Proton Prisma card
management and personalization system, and integrated it successfully
into its own host system.
Following the certification from VISA of the personalized Proton Prisma
card, Kredyt Bank started in June 2003 to issue chip-based VISA Classic
and VISA Gold credit cards In a later phase, Kredyt Bank also plans
to replace its present VISA Electron and Maestro debit cards by Proton
Prisma-based EMV cards. The bank is also exploring opportunities to
optimize the multi-application functionality of the Proton Prisma
platform by working with partners in loyalty applications.
In the Czech Republic, CSOB Bank has also successfully installed Proton
Prisma's Matrix card lifecycle management and personalization system
and is starting the migration of its Visa Electron debit card base
to chip technology in June 2003, for which it received Visa certification.
Other CSOB card products will be gradually converted to the same Proton
Prisma EMV multi-application platform: e.g. CSOB's Post Savings Bank
will later this year start converting all its debit cards to Proton
Prisma.
Following the successful implementations of the Proton Prisma platform
in the Czech Republic and Poland, a third KBC-affiliated bank, K&H,
has also decided to implement the platform in Hungary.
Matrix has been designed to manage the lifecycle and application inventory
of every issued smart card throughout its lifecycle. As the host-based
implementation of the CALC end-to-end specifications, its modular
design allows issuers to start small, with limited investments, then
to migrate gradually and seamlessly to the full multi-application
functionality.
"Kredyt Bank is committed to be the pioneer issuer of EMV multi-application
cards in Poland and Proton Prisma seems to have the satisfactory capacity
to this effect. We are looking forward to have not only VSDC functionality
on our cards, but also an open platform chip technology, which would
enable us to successfully expand our banking offer to commercial entities
developing their loyalty programs and other functions for applications
operated on smart cards," said Jaroslaw Chrzanowski, Managing Director
Card Center of Kredyt Bank.
Petr Skala, Manager Cards Department from CSOB Bank, commented, "We
are proud to be with the first to mass roll-out EMV cards on the multi-application
Proton Prisma platform. The flexibility of this technology will allow
our group not only to roll-out EMV compliant bank products, but also
allow us to add and open additional applications using the same infrastructure
and deliver to our clients and business partners higher value through
the card products."
"Proton Prisma is proven technology today" added, Armand Linkens,
Group Vice President, for the newly acquired Proton products, within
STMicroelectronics' Memory Products Group. "By being the first to
mass issue Proton Prisma smart cards, KBC and its affiliates Kredyt
Bank and CSOB are setting a milestone here. As their decisions were
the result of fundamental study work and business evaluations, we
are proud to have them as references, that can testify of the quality
of Proton products in general and Proton Prisma in particular."
About STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics is a global leader in developing and delivering
semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications.
An unrivalled combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing
strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and strategic partners
positions the Company at the forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology
and its products play a key role in enabling today's convergence markets.
The Company's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on
Euronext Paris and on the Milan Stock Exchange. In 2002, the Company's
net revenues were $6.32 billion and net earnings were $429.4 million.
Further information on ST can be found at http://www.st.com.
Editor's Notes:
Proton World International was acquired by STMicroelectronics, the
world's second largest supplier of smart card chips, in April 2003.
Its product offer includes Proton Prisma: a family of smart card technology
products that consists of smart card system software (card OS, middleware
and application software), especially for e-purse, EMV (Europay/MasterCard/Visa)
debit/credit cards, PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) security, and
data management applications.
About Kredyt Bank (Poland)
Kredyt Bank S.A. is one of the top five banking groups in Poland by
total assets, with increasing market shares in deposits and loans.
Its network comprises nearly 390 outlets spread nationwide. It has
a branch and service outlets in Lithuania, a representative office
in Kaliningrad (Russia) and a subsidiary in the Ukraine (Kredyt Bank
Ukraine). http://www.kredytbank.pl;
About CSOB Bank (Czech Republic)
CSOB is one of the premier financial services groups in Central Europe.
Acquired by KBC Bank & Insurance Group in 1999, it caters for 3.4
million customers in the Czech Republic - where it leads the market
(market share of 20-25% in lending and customer deposits) - and in
Slovakia. http://www.csob.cz.
