Providian Continues Leadership Role in Helping Place Smart Cards Into
The Hands of U.S. Consumers
SAN FRANCISCO, July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The smart card industry reached
another important milestone with the announcement today of the nation's first
credit card payment transaction via smart chip technology. In its ongoing
commitment to help make the vision of consumer mass adoption of smart cards a
reality, Providian Financial Corporation (NYSE: PVN) (http://www.providian.com) made
the successful transition to physical world chip-based payment using the
Providian Smart Visa card.
Providian has already issued more than one million smart cards to
consumers who have been using smart cards for traditional payment
transactions. Today's smart chip transaction demonstrates that as merchants
put smart terminals into place, consumers will have the option to conduct
transactions via the chip embedded in the smart card or using the magnetic
stripe. Internet-based smart chip transactions are already possible when
conducted using a card reader, which is connected to the consumer's computer.
Providian was joined by Thomas A. Wimsett, president and chief executive
officer of National Processing Company (NYSE: NAP) (NPC), at NPC's
headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, as the first purchase was made. NPC, in
collaboration with Vital Processing Services, is the payment processor behind
this new smart card acceptance solution. As part of its commitment to
chip-card processing, NPC, will begin accepting chip-read payment transactions
in NPC's employee cafeteria in Louisville, KY.
"We are very excited about partnering with NPC to make the physical point
of sale (POS) use of smart cards for chip-enabled payment, a reality," said
Elizabeth Tse, senior vice president for Providian Financial. "The successful
completion of today's transaction is just the tip of the ice berg. We look
forward to continuing to share exciting news on our smart card programs and
new chip applications throughout the year."
To date, smart cards have been used for transactions via the Internet, but
physical world POS transactions have required the card's magnetic stripe for
traditional payment.
With this development, "brick and mortar" retailers will be able to
receive payment from customers using the chip-based technology embedded in
each Providian Smart Visa card. "NPC has been working with Providian to
achieve this historic moment," said Thomas Wimsett, "We have established NPC
as the first integrated provider of chip processing solutions to apply cutting
edge technology and meet all requirements to help bring life to this program.
And Providian's commitment to product innovation for a broad consumer market
has helped us realize this goal."
About Providian Smart Visa
Providian Smart Visa provides consumers enhanced convenience, purchasing
power and access beyond the realm of traditional credit cards. The Providian
Smart Visa can securely store extensive personal information that is
customizable and fully controlled by the cardholder. As smart card technology
is widely adopted by retailers and consumers, Providian Smart Visa will bring
additional innovations to cardholders.
About Providian Financial
Winner of the 2001 Rochester Institute of Technology/USA Today Quality Cup
for excellence in customer service, San Francisco-based Providian Financial is
a leading provider of lending and deposit products to customers throughout the
U.S., and offers credit cards and deposit products in the UK and in Argentina.
Providian Financial has been named one of America's Most Admired Companies in
a survey by Fortune magazine, one of the nation's top financial institutions
by U.S. Banker magazine, and one of the most technologically innovative
companies in the U.S. by InformationWeek magazine. The Company has more than
$33 billion in assets under management and over 17 million customer accounts.
About National Processing, Inc.
National Processing, Inc., through its wholly owned operating subsidiary,
National Processing Company (NPC(R)) is a leading provider of merchant credit
card processing. National Processing is 87 percent owned by National City
Corporation (NYSE: NCC) (http://www.nationalcity.com), a Cleveland based $91 billion
financial holding company. NPC supports over 550,000 merchant locations,
representing nearly one out of every five Visa and MasterCard transactions
processed nationally. NPC's card processing solutions offer superior levels
of service and performance and assist merchants in lowering their total cost
of card acceptance through our world-class people, technology and service.
Additional information regarding National Processing can be obtained at
http://www.npc.net.
SOURCE Providian Financial Corporation
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Related links:
http://www.providian.com
CONTACT:
Laurel Munson of Providian Financial,
+1-415-278-4770, or laurel_munson@providian.com
NOTE TO EDITORS: In connection with this announcement, images of
Providian Smart Visa cards are available at http://www.newsstream.com,
with site registration.
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