Hypercom Corporation (NYSE: HYC) announced today that it is entering Denmark's retail card payment sector, commencing product sales effective immediately, and is in receipt of initial purchase orders from Danish distributor CTcoin.dk for its Artema Hybrid payment terminal.
The actions follow field tests and certification of the device for use in the country by Payment Business Services (PBS), the national Danish certification authority.
"With the Artema Hybrid, we are bringing high speed, high performance payment products to Denmark's retail banking sector, allowing retailers to expedite the fast and secure transmission of vital transaction data," said Peter Ehlers, Managing Director, Northern Europe, Hypercom Corporation.
The use of payment cards and terminals is increasing rapidly in Denmark. The number of cards has jumped to more than 11 million from over six million in 2000, and a full 80% of those are debit cards, according to industry sources. Approximately 75% of retail purchases are now made with cards versus cash. The installed base of point-of-sale terminals now exceeds 100,000, and that figure is expected to double within the next five years.
Based on these positive figures for the Danish market, Carsten Krogh, CEO of CTcoin.dk, explained the choice of Hypercom terminals for his customers: "We have selected the Artema Hybrid as we are convinced of the terminal´s reliability, payment security and processing speed. What is new to the Danish market is the hybrid card reader, which avoids possible confusion, since the card holder does not have to determine whether the card has a valid chip or only magnetic stripe."
Hypercom's high security Artema Hybrid features a single slot "hybrid" card reader and secure integrated PIN Pad for magnetic stripe and chip card transactions.