Gemplus Honored With Frost & Sullivan Competitive Strategy Leadership Award

This is the first occasion that such an award has been granted exclusively to the banking division of an organization. Major banking sector projects are reinforcing Gemplus expanding global reach. In 2003, Gemplus won EMV contracts in all of the continents for the supply of cards and personalization services. A major contract with the United Kingdoms leading banks to replace the magnetic stripe system on debit cards with smart cards is likely to see Gemplus deliver 40 million EMV cards within the next two years. Gemplus also deployed the first EMV cards in France with Societe Generale. These initiatives could preface similar projects in Asia and South America. The delivery of 400,000 Java Cards(tm) to Banco do Brasil and a deal for multi-application EMV cards -- in partnership with Toppan -- with JCB International Co. Ltd., (Japans largest card issuer), have further underlined Gemplus global credentials. The company also recently signed similar contracts with leading banks in Eastern Europe. Other examples that illustrate Gemplus aggressive global competitive strategy include: MasterCard mc(2), the first credit card targeting young Latin American executives launched by the Citigroup member Banamex; the conversion of several million ATM magnetic stripe cards to smart in order to boost security levels in Malaysian banking; and a co-branded smart banking card leveraging loyalty programs across the telecom, transportation and banking sectors in South Korea. Gemplus has also become the first company to have all of its personalization centers certified by Visa and MasterCard.