Ingenico and C.E.C. Form a Strategic Partnership

In China, 19 million merchants have been using electronic payment (POS) terminals since 1993, chiefly at sales outlets that accept foreign payment cards. As a result, the installed base of terminals is totaling only 400,000 units. However, the booming economy of the past several years has greatly boosted consumption in the Chinese population, which currently includes no less than 700(1) million cardholders. Projected further growth, combined with preparations for the Olympics in 2008, has led experts to estimate that the POS terminal population should jump to a total of 2 or 3 million units by 2008. To add to this promising outlook there is a second market: the electronic collection of VAT at point-of-sale, which the Chinese fiscal authorities have made compulsory. This application can run on dedicated machines or can be combined with an electronic payment terminal, provided it uses smart card security devices. There are twenty million merchants who will have to be equipped during the next ten years. These electronic payment and tax collection systems are already in place and working. The Chinese authorities are now embarking on the deployment of these solutions, and have asked major corporations to invest in the implementation of these secured transaction infrastructures. It was this outlook that motivated CEC to play a key role in the deployment process. The strategic alliance signed today between Ingenico and CEC should be seen against the backdrop of strong development in payment terminal and point-of-sale tax collection infrastructure. It includes four main points: - CEC will be distributing Ingenico terminals to Chinese merchants. - CEC will be manufacturing Ingenico terminals for the local market. - CIDC, a specialized CEC subsidiary, will be translating into Chinese and distributing IngeCore, Ingenico’s fully secure core technology, to POS terminal manufacturers serving the tax collection market. - An R&D Joint Venture involving Ingenico, Ingenico Beijing and CIDC-CEC will be working to develop a future secure chip tailored to the Chinese market and built around UNICAPT 32, the secure multi-application platform common to all Ingenico terminals. Effective as of June 1, this strategic alliance will give rise to an overall program and to marketing and technology contracts supporting the four main points in the agreement.