The 6400 PINpad, which complies with EMV, the global payment standard for smart cards, will run as part of a pilot in a number of retail shops, which will last several weeks.

A key aim of the Swedish pilot will be a practical demonstration that the PINpad complies with Swedish national standards for transaction security and for EMV-compliant software.

The Swedish pilot will be conducted with Ingenico's European partner BBS, a leading operator in payments and information processing.

Ingenico has led the introduction of Chip and PIN in the UK and the expertise it has developed has now created the opportunity for exceptional growth across Northern Europe according to Managing Director Nick Parsons.

He said: "The expertise we have developed in this area places us in a prime position to maximise the exciting opportunities that are now arising in Northern Europe as these countries begin to move towards this stage in their payment technology. We see this utilisation of the knowledge we have developed in the UK as playing a key role in achieving continued growth. In Sweden we have gone through all the testing of the national authority, and now we actually have to put it live in a number of sites and prove that, operationally, it'll run smoothly to the national authority's requirements."

Once the pilot is completed, Ingenico will then receive final certification to sell the product to all Swedish retailers.

Initially, Nick says, Ingenico will market the PINpads principally to small retailers but the company is already in talks with a number of large retailers on further deployment.