In a bid to boost bank uptake of smart cards, Visa is to offer its members further substantial discounts on chip card components and services.
The cut-price package, conducted in assocation with technology partners and vendors to the chip card industry, follows the recent moves by card manufacturers to slash the price of smart cards in half.
Gaylon Howe, senior vice president for consumer product platforms, at Visa International, says: “We recognise that there needs to be a cost structure in place which helps to alleviate some of the financial burden.”
Among the new offers from Visa International are discounts provided by ACI, Barnes International, Bell ID, Datacard Group, Gemplus, ICC Solutions, NBS Technologies, Touch Technology International and Zaxus. To encourage adoption, each company is offering these discounts for limited time periods and for a limited number of banks.
The new discounts are available under Visa's Smart Partners 2000 programme, which was launched in Spring and currently comprises 27 companies. A number of banks are already working with vendors under the programme, states Visa.
ACI reports that nine banks have taken advantage of its ‘FastStart for Visa’ offer that provides special pricing for a complete host system migration programme. ACI is now extending its offer to include card and application management software at variable discounts depending on the number of cards to be issued. NBS reports it is working with several banks around the world to implement desktop and high-volume solutions for personalising Visa smart debit and credit cards. A low-cost, high-volume solution has also been added to the NBS desktop offering.