Raiffeisen launches World’s First Bio-Sourced Bank Card developed by Gemalto

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security and Raiffeisen, Austria’s leading banking group, today announced the introduction of the world’s first Bio Sourced payment card for its Austrian cardholders. Visa Europe allowed Gemalto to use the Bio Sourced card material for Visa branded EMV card programs. These cards, from Gemalto’s Clarista range of payment solutions, will offer special-edition prepaid cards to end users as part of the Raiffeisen Climate Protection Initiative.

“Gemalto’s Bio Sourced card based on the latest state-of-the-art product technology offers us a solution with all security and functionality requirements which fits perfectly with our company values, particularly with our Climate Protection Initiative”

Gemalto’s Clarista Bio Sourced payment card body is made from renewable material derived from corn. This material is easily recyclable and compostable through small scale industrial units, and reduces the global ecological footprint of the production process. In the first phase of the project, these Raiffeisen Visa Bio Sourced cards will be available as a preloaded card with a prepaid balance, and will be provided with Gemalto’s customized EcoPack - a packaging made from recycled material.

The new Bio Sourced cards will support Raiffeisen’s comprehensive environmental governance. As part of this project, a number of activities are focused on enhancing the efficiency of energy input, encouraging the use of renewable resources and offering financial services which generate an ecological added value.

“Gemalto’s Bio Sourced card based on the latest state-of-the-art product technology offers us a solution with all security and functionality requirements which fits perfectly with our company values, particularly with our Climate Protection Initiative,” said Johannes Schuster, Member of the Managing Board of Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG. “This project is a show case for the whole Raiffeisen Group.”

“Bio Sourced cards technology fits well within our strategic commitment to sustainability, in particular with using materials and production processes that have a reduced environmental impact,” added Philippe Cambriel, Executive Vice President, Gemalto. “This new opportunity is a further milestone in the long-standing innovation partnership that Gemalto has established with Raiffeisen, enabling to constantly offer more innovative services and products to their end users.”

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2011 annual revenues of €2 billion and more than 10,000 employees operating out of 74 offices and 14 Research & Development centers, located in 43 countries.

We are at the heart of the rapidly evolving digital society. Billions of people worldwide increasingly want the freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain and work – anytime, everywhere – in ways that are enjoyable and safe. Gemalto delivers on their expanding needs for personal mobile services, payment security, authenticated cloud access, identity and privacy protection, eHealthcare and eGovernment efficiency, convenient ticketing and dependable machine-to-machine (M2M) applications.

Gemalto develops secure embedded software and secure products which we design and personalize. Our platforms and services manage these secure products, the confidential data they contain and the trusted end-user services they enable. Our innovations offer more ways for our clients to enhance the convenience and security of people’s digital lives.

Gemalto thrives with the growing number of people using its solutions to interact with the digital and wireless world.

For more information visit www.gemalto.com, www.justaskgemalto.com, blog.gemalto.com, or follow @gemalto on Twitter.

Editor’s note:

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