Munich, Germany and Dulles, VA, USA, November 10, 2010–Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) announces that shipments of its Convego® Air contactless payment cards in the U.S. have now surpassed the 50 million unit mark. Since the introduction of its contactless payment cards in 2006 and its subsequent growth, G&D has captured the leadership position in the U.S. among VISA and MasterCard branded contactless payment cards. G&D is broadening its contactless platform with innovative form factors, including mobile payment stickers for mobile phones and contactless payment cards with enhanced metal effect features.

With contactless payment, consumers enjoy added speed and convenience versus cash, while issuers and merchants enjoy faster transaction times, increased spending per transaction, and reduced operational costs.

G&D’s contactless payment cards are issued by many of the major U.S. banks and G&D is the first card vendor to surpass the 50 million mark. The cards are certified for MasterCard® PayPass™ and Visa payWave and can be used at all payment terminals supporting contactless payment.

Scott Marquardt, Managing Director and President of G&D America commented, “Contactless payment is a key component of our full service offering and facilitates payment technology in a mobile world. We are proud to support our card issuers by commercializing new payment technologies that further this transition.”

G&D’s contactless platform is now expanding with new form factors and into new market applications. These include the recent introduction of mobile payment stickers, which empower mobile phones to act as payment devices and serve as the ideal bridge product until embedded payment technology for mobile devices is commercially viable.

Additionally, G&D is introducing contactless payment cards with enhanced metal effect features that overcome the technical challenges of the metalized surface on contactless technology. G&D’s new metal effect contactless cards enable full 4th line embossing, a feature unavailable with previous contactless metallic foil cards.

Press Contact

Stefan Waldenmaier
Phone +49 (89) 4119-2985
Email: stefan.waldenmaier@gi-de.com

About Giesecke & Devrient

Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) is a leading international technology provider headquartered in Munich, Germany. With a headcount of more than 10,000 employees, the Group generated sales of EUR 1.7 billion in fiscal 2009. Founded in 1852, G&D is a global market leader and pioneering innovator in banknote production and processing, smart card solutions and services for telecommunications and electronic payment, and security documents and identification systems. 65 subsidiaries and joint ventures in 32 countries ensure customer proximity worldwide. For more information, visit our website at: http://www.gi-de.com.