Belgium's KBC Bank & Insurance Group has contracted with Proton World to roll out its Prisma multi-application smart card technology to subsidiary banking operations in central and eastern Europe.
KBC is active outside Belgium through a network of subsidiaries, associated companies, international partnerships and representative offices and branches.
In an initial phase, the agreement will involve ÈSOB Bank in the Czech Republic (with branches in the Slovak Republic), Kereskedelmi es Hitelbank (K&H) in Hungary, and the Poland-based Kredytbank, which also has branches in Lithuania and a subsidiary in Ukraine. The agreement also provides for possible implementations of Proton Prisma technology by other KBC associated companies.
The banks will issue the Proton Prisma smart cards primarily for use with EMV Plus, Proton World’s credit/debit application, as part of their EMV migration plans.
The technology incorporates end-to-end card management capabilities of Proton's Calc, Matrix and DFM products, and covers the potential implementation of Aspic, Proton World's PKI application. Proton Prisma also offers a wide range of fully compatible card profiles, from a basic step-in card profile to the secure post-issuance Java Card multi-application high-end card profile.
Herman Agneessens, KBC, says: “By choosing Proton Prisma as the common chip card platform for KBC’s international retail banking approach, we will be able to migrate to EMV in a cost efficient way. Not only will the joint purchasing of cards cut costs for KBC on the short term, it may also lead to permanent cost reductions by means of common IT card-related development for all banks in the KBC Group.”