LCL is a subsidiary of Crédit Agricole, the leading banking group in France with 26 million customers. Gemalto provides LCL with a web-based solution enabling users to easily upload their identity photograph onto the bank's website. The company also supplies picture validation services and personalizes the cards. The service has been rolled-out since end of May 2009.

This EMV (Europay MasterCard Visa) card is dedicated to students and aims to combine the advantages of a payment card with those of the ISIC (International Student Identity Card) international student card. Cardholders can make purchases worldwide and benefit from coupons from ISIC partners: 8,000 in France and 40,000 throughout 120 countries, for leisure, travel, accommodation, food and multimedia.

"We selected Gemalto for its experience in rapid roll-out of complete and integrated issuance systems for innovative personalized cards," commented Jean Michel Lepioufle, head of marketing retail banking at LCL. "The user-friendly web interface was also a decisive factor in our choice."

"Gemalto is proud to support LCL in the launch of France's first banking card with a personal photograph," added Philippe Cambriel, Executive Vice-President of the Secure Transactions Business Unit at Gemalto. "This new contract demonstrates Gemalto's ability to provide value-added services that allow banks to offer products that are perfectly suited to specific customer segments."

* ISIC works to improve student mobility by reducing general expenditures such as transport, insurance, leisure, etc.