Telecom, a broadband wireless company cur-rently going through reorganisation. Contact: Séverine Percetti at Gemplus, Tel: + 33 4 42 36 67 67, e-mail: severine.percetti@gemplus.com

Electronic purse

Croatian banks sign up forProton purse licence

MBU, a consortium of 27 banks in Croatia, hastaken out a licence for the Proton electronic purse.The MBU consortium banks represent 50% of theretail banking market in Croatia.

The licence agreement will lead to a two-stageproject, managed by Proton World. In the firststage, which started in February 2000, Java-basedC-ZAM/SMASH multi-application terminals fromBanksys, developers of Proton, are replacing thenetwork of existing POS terminals. These will beable to handle EMV-compliant credit/debit cards,a ‘domestic’ Croatian Proton e-purse and the CEPS(inter-country) Proton e-purse.

In the second stage, the banks will replace theirexisting magnetic stripe credit/debit cards withsmart cards that contain both the EMV-compliantcredit/debit application and the Proton e-purseapplication. The second phase is also scheduledto begin during 2000.

MBU was established in 1994 by the Croatianbanks to operate and manage a network of ATMsand POS terminals (plus transaction processingand clearing) using C-ZAM POS terminals.

By the end of 1999, the MBU member bankshad issued 500,000 multi-functional domestic debitcards (MBCARDS) which were used to perform9 million transactions in 1999, an increase of 45%over 1998.

The banks’ MBNET is linked to the interna-tional networks of Eurocard, MasterCard,Maestro, Visa, Visa-Electron and AmericanExpress, allowing the MBU member banks toissue and accept all these international brandsfor existing magnetic stripe cards.

The Proton licence now enables MBU to adoptthe international standards for chip cards – suchas EMV for credit/debit and CEPS for interoper-able e-purses.

Armand Linkens, managing director of Proton World, said: “Croatia is the first country in Central Europe to go smart withProton, and we are confident that the

scheme’s success will attract other countries inthe region.”Contact: Dominique Hautain at Proton World, Tel: + 32 2 724 5111, e-mail: info@protonworld.com

Sergio Uran at MBU, Tel: + 385 1309 1555, e-mail: sergio.uran@mbu.hr

Mass transit

TranSys calls for LondonTransport tenders

TranSys, the consortium formed by CubicTransportation Systems, EDS, ICL and WSAtkins to deliver smart card ticketing and revenuecollection for London Transport, has issued invi-tations-to-tender to leading card manufacturersacross the world. Transys says that its system isso flexible that that it will operate with all currentstandards of contactless smart cards and that therewill be no need to rely on one sole supplier.

The long-term aim of the £1 billion Prestige con-tract, awarded by London Transport to TranSys,is to provide an integrated ticketing medium forall bus and rail transport operators throughout theUK. TranSys’ managing director Alan Oliver said:“ We will be managing the issue and distributionof many millions of smart cards per annum anddelivering contactless technology offering cus-tomers a seamless journey across the capital[London] and through the UK.”

The services will be tailored to the franchiseperiods of the different train operating compa-nies, so that the companies will not have to investin ticketing infrastructure and equipment.Transport operators will be free to choose their owntype of smart card, and implement their ownapplications, paying TranSys on a ‘per transac-tion’ basis. TranSys envisage that additional appli-cations could include e-purse and loyalty schemes.

However, it has to be pointed out that at presentthere is no guarantee that train and bus operatorsoutside of London will accept the Prestige systemor make their own systems interoperable with it.

The Prestige smart card and revenue collectionservices will include: • a central smart card distribution and

management service;• a central clearing house and data centre;• call centres and customer help lines;• Internet and telephone ticket sales; and• ticket issuing and validation services.

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Proton explainedProton World is theconsortium that develops andlicences Proton smart cardapplications, which havealready been chosen by 19countries. Some 31 millionProton cards are now in issueand 265,000 Proton-compatible terminals areinstalled worldwide.

TranSys explainedThe TranSys consortium hasraised some £200 million onthe capital markets and begunto invest in gates, automaticticket machines and ticketdispensers in ticket offices. Atpresent the tickets are basedon magnetic stripe technology.The aim is to have smart card-based tickets in issue during2002. It is envisaged that twomain types of contactlesstickets will be issued: seasontickets, which will be replacedon their expiry, and storedvalue tickets, which can betopped up when their valuehas been depleted.

Under the Prestige contract, TranSys hasassumed responsibility (and risk) for the design,development and operational investment of theproject. In return the consortium has been awardedthe £1 billion contract to collect the revenues fromthe system over a period of 17 years (which startedin August 1998).

ICL, now a consultancy and systems houserather than a computer manufacturer, is supply-ing central computing and smart card manage-ment for TranSys. Outsourcing specialist EDS isto manage the operations of LT Prestige. CubicCorporation is supplying the automated fare coll-ection systems and has already installed new gatesand ticketing equipment. Transport specialist WSAtkins is the overall planning consultant. Contact: Nicole Carroll at TranSys, Tel: +44 171 918 5928, Fax: +44 171 918 5938

E-commerce

US e-shoppers back Amex’sBlue smart credit card

Ctt has heard that American Express (Amex) isfinding it difficult to satisfy consumer demandfor its Blue card, rolled out in the US towards theend of last year (Ctt October ’99, p9). Blue is a creditcard designed to provide security for shopping onthe Internet.

Amex provides a free card reader to each Bluesubscriber; the reader is attached to the subscriber’sPC, where the PIN is entered at the keyboardbefore each transaction. The cards carry the user’sprivate key that accesses (across the Internet) theirindividual ‘wallet’ (which is held remotely at anAmex installation in Phoenix, Arizona).

The Blue card provides members with online ser-vices – such as access to account information,transfer of balances and bill payments. But itsmain function is as an Internet shopping guaran-tee against fraud.

At registration, the user enters their personalinformation – thereafter the form filling requiredfor online purchases can be completed automatically.

“With Blue, the certificate is stored on the chipand encryption happens on the chip,” said AllenGilstrap of Amex. “This does away with the cum-bersome check-out procedures at present requiredfor e-commerce.” He told delegates at Smart Card2000 that under existing procedures some 60-70%

of Internet shopping transactions are abandonedbefore they are completed.

He added that new functions could be down-loaded to the cards in the future; these couldinclude loyalty applications.

Amex is also working with Europay,MasterCard and Visa on a framework for multiple applications to be held on one card. Thesecould include EMV (debit/credit applications),access to networks and profiles of the cardholder’spreferences for airlines, hotels and car rental. Thesewould be independent of operating systems. “Toomuch energy is spent on the technology and notenough on the business case,” said Gilstrap.Contact: Molly Faust at Amex, Tel: +1 212 640 7552, Fax: +1 212 619 8998

Cities

Italians drive for smart cardparking in major cities

Smart card parking meters and terminals shouldsoon begin appearing in major Italian cities.Motorists will be able to use bank-issued electronicpurses to pay for parking at pay and display ter-minals. There will also be a facility for payingdirectly from vehicles at car parks using Europark,an in-car unit that enables the due amount to bededucted from the purse automatically.

The new system, badly needed in a countrywhere the number of cars on the streets oftenoverwhelms cities, is being developed by cardproducer Schlumberger in partnership with ACI(the Italian Automobile Club) and TSP, a jointventure of the Italian banks and Telecom Italia.

Schlumberger is a major supplier of parkingmeters, with equipment installed in London, Paris,New York and many European cities, as well asbeing a leading supplier of smart cards.

ACI’s CNP (National Car Parks) subsidiary man-ages parking in Rome, Naples, Lecce, Campobasso,Pordenone, Crotone and other cities. The groupalso provides consultancy services to local gov-ernments in Florence, Milan, Pisa, Ferrara, Udine,Trent and Bolzano. The consulting arm of CNP hasdeveloped the Europark unit to hold the user’selectronic purse and to transmit (contactlessly) thedue payments from the purse to a terminal in thecar park.

TSP has promoted the use of the banks’ Minipayelectronic purse and has created citizens’ cards

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