This collaboration will provide a new integrated offering - functional testing and security assessment - which meets the needs of the market as well as supporting technological developments in the field of security.

Through this partnership, Thales ITSEF will combine its product security evaluation expertise in the mobile payment sector and NFC technology with FIME's global presence and functional assessment experience to provide an integrated testing and certification service. The offering will assist companies in achieving certification for industry standards, such as Common Criteria and EMVCo, and private schemes including MasterCard, Visa and CRI (Cryptography Research Incorporated).

Thales and FIME will both continue to support their respective clients throughout the development phase of a secure chip application or device, preparing for the certification process and launching to market.

Pascal Le Ray, CEO of FIME, comments: "FIME is delighted to align its knowledge with Thales to assist its clients in achieving the required security approvals from industry bodies and service providers. As markets converge to deliver complex services on secure chips, there is a real need to ensure the highest level of security is implemented across all products to instil market confidence and create a trusted ecosystem. We look forward to working with Thales to advance our respective offerings and believe this will provide significant value to the industry."