Courbevoie, FRANCE and Oslo, NORWAY – 19 September 2019 – IDEMIA, the global leader in Augmented Identity and one of the world’s largest biometric payment card manufacturers, and Zwipe, a leading biometric technology company, have signed an exclusive partnership and distribution agreement that sees the two companies co-investing in the development of a disruptive biometric payment card platform. The companies’ shared vision is to enable mass volume market take-off and long-term growth for biometric payment cards, by bringing to market a technology platform that will significantly reduce the complexity and cost of the design and production process for biometric payment cards, enabling an accelerated path to mass volumes which will ultimately benefit the issuers and users of cards.
This result is achieved by drastically reducing the number of components, integrating in a single chip the functions that previously required a Secure Element, a Microcontroller, and more than thirty external components, all mounted on a flexible PCB (Printed Circuit Board). Cards incorporating this new technology will be in the market in H2 2020, with high volume deployment starting in 2021.
Speaking on the agreement, Amanda Gourbault, Executive Vice-President for Financial institutions activities at IDEMIA, declared: “this is a strategic, high profile project for IDEMIA. We are very excited about what this platform will enable in terms of market growth and the penetration of biometric payment cards. IDEMIA is delighted to partner with Zwipe, a company with a solid intellectual property portfolio and an expanding global customer network; we are confident that our new solution will command a leading position in the marketplace.”
Zwipe will have worldwide exclusive rights to provide this solution to manufacturers of payment cards, wearables and other payment solutions, and their suppliers, when the product becomes available. IDEMIA has ownership of this technology and will sell F.CODE to its Financial Institutions customers. Once again, by bringing the best of its technology and vision, IDEMIA is driving the growth of the biometric cards market.
Commenting on this major development, André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe said “we are excited and proud to enter a significant partnership with IDEMIA, a prominent global industry leader. The platform represents a technological leap that will serve as a catalyst to enable full biometric payment card costs to come down significantly, driving mass volume market growth and complementing our current and future product portfolios. We look forward to bringing this platform to our customers to continue to shape the biometric payments industry.”
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OSLO, NORWAY– 17 SEPTEMBER 2019 – Biometric technology company Zwipe has been selected by Giesecke + Devrient (G+D) Mobile Security, one of the world’s largest mobile and digital security providers to develop a biometric payment device with a view to pilot this technology with leading banks.
Speaking on the partnership with Zwipe, Gabrielle Bugat, Group Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Financial Services at G+D Mobile Security, said “We have selected Zwipe because of their proven ability to integrate biometrics with payment functionalities into an extremely space and energy-constrained environment,” adding “we are confident that this joint effort will help establish new opportunities in the emerging biometric payments marketplace.”
Zwipe will provide the technical design and core components for integration into a wearable device with the digital security provider integrating the payment platform and personalising the product for use as a payment solution.
Commenting on this commercial effort, André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe said “Our new customer, G+D is one of the world’s largest players in security solutions and we are excited to launch this collaboration.”
The joint development is commencing now, and the two parties plan to announce the start of any pilot when the product is ready for trials.
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BANGKOK, THAILAND – 11 SEPTEMBER 2019 – Biometric technology company Zwipe and dz card a global card solution provider and one of the largest card manufacturers in Southeast Asia, have signed a partnership to launch biometric payment solutions addressing the emerging needs of customers in Thailand and across Southeast Asia, as well as India and Africa.
Speaking on the engagement, Mr. Renaud ADAM – CEO of dz card said, “we have received requests from several large issuers seeking biometric payment cards and we are excited to partner with Zwipe, who is uniquely positioned to support our customers in introducing, optimizing and scaling up the issuance of this innovative product which makes contactless payment so much more secure.”
dz card will look to integrate Zwipe’s technology platform in bringing their biometric payment cards and other associated solutions to market, featuring Zwipe’s proprietary biometric payment platform and secure at-home enrolment offering.
Commenting on this latest customer acquisition André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe said, “we are honored that dz card decided to join our growing customer base and we are confident that our unique and dedicated approach to support them in launching biometric payment cards will be a win for their customers, some of the largest financial institutions in Southeast Asia.”
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OSLO, NORWAY – 3 September 2019- Biometric technology company Zwipe will explore a potential listing on Nasdaq Stockholm's First North Growth Market. The timing of such a listing remains to be evaluated.
Commenting on this development, CEO of Zwipe André Løvestam said “the past several months has seen major stakeholders in the emerging biometric payment market invest in preparations for commercialization of biometric payment cards and accompanying offerings. This vote of confidence and positive outlook has enabled several new strategic opportunities for Zwipe that are currently being pursued. On this basis, the Board of Directors has concluded an intent to list on Nasdaq Stockholm's First North Growth Market”, adding “listing on Nasdaq First North Growth Market will take the company closer to the majority of its investors and open up a larger and more dynamic trading market for its shares.”
Please see Zwipe’s Interim Report January to June 2019 on the company’s website, www.zwipe.com for more information about the company’s status and outlook.
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Oslo, Norway - 3 September 2019
Biometric technology company Zwipe today announces its Interim Report January to June 2019:
First Half Year
Significant events during the period
Significant events after the period
CEO comment
André Løvestam, Chief Executive Officer at Zwipe, said “Zwipe had significant progress during the first half of 2019. During the period we added five new card manufacturing customers across the world, significantly broadening our customer base. At the same time, multiple pilots with existing customers, banks and payment networks, have provided strong results and given us unique insights as we progress towards commercial adoption of our offerings.
Over the course of this summer, accredited third-party labs used for validation by the major payment networks have confirmed that Zwipe’s platform is comfortably surpassing the biometric performance, security and interoperability requirements for certification to be awarded to card manufacturers.
During the first half of 2019 multiple card manufacturers have started the capital-intensive process of launching biometric payment card specific manufacturing lines, semiconductor providers have begun the development of dedicated offerings for this emerging market, and the entire value chain supporting these processes has started moving more aggressively.
This vote of confidence of the future prospects in biometric payment cards and wearables has opened up several new strategic opportunities for Zwipe; opportunities that we are now pursuing at full speed.
Based on this confirmation of Zwipe’s value proposition and long-term prospects, the Board of Directors has concluded an intent to list on Nasdaq Stockholm's First North Growth Market, thereby further accelerating and supporting the company's development.
I am confident that Zwipe is well positioned to unlock the exciting opportunities coming our way and I am looking forward to the next phase of our journey.”
Please find the full report attached or on the company’s website www.zwipe.com.
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OSLO, NORWAY– 25 JUNE 2019 – Biometric technology company Zwipe has entered into a partnership with XH Smart, a global smart card manufacturer, focused on commercializing end to end biometric payment offerings to XH Smart customers in China and beyond.
XH Smart is a global solutions provider offering end-to-end digital security solutions to banks and telecom operators in more than 70 countries across the world. A fully accredited Visa, Mastercard and China UnionPay card manufacturer, the company has grown rapidly since its founding in 2011, becoming a global player in the payment card marketplace, marked by several large industry acquisitions both inside and outside of China. In 2018 the company manufactured in excess of 44 million payment cards.
Speaking on the agreement with Zwipe, Mr Eehou Lim, XH Smart Group SVP, said “We are convinced that biometric payment cards is becoming one of the new standards in payments going forward and that is why we have partnered with Zwipe, the only company that can assist us in offering an end to end solution to our customers. We are confident that we have the right pieces in place to seize this exciting opportunity.”
Zwipe’s end to end offering buoyed by its strong intellectual property portfolio provides card manufacturers physical components and manufacturing support. Additionally, the comprehensive package covers advisory services that will enable card manufacturers to provide a more complete offering to banks and issuers, by directly supporting product integration, customer enrolment and onboarding on multiple platforms.
Commenting on this partnership, André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe said “We are excited to partner with XH Smart and to contribute to their capacity to deliver not just an innovative new product but a complete experience to their discerning customers, driven by our shared commitment to making convenience secure.”
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Munich, Germany, and Oslo, Norway – 18 June 2019 – Biometric technology company Zwipe and the world’s leading provider of semiconductor solutions in the payments market, Infineon Technologies AG, have extended their non-exclusive partnership through a long-term agreement. This settlement outlines both technical and commercial collaboration between the two companies. The two parties will co-define and develop advanced system-on-chip solutions and related system designs for mass deployment of biometric smart devices, including payment cards and wearables.
Tap and go payments with biometric cards are gaining considerable market traction as they significantly improve the user experience without compromising on security, supporting the strong customer authentication (SCA) requirements demanded by the second Payment Service Directive (PSD2) in Europe.
Zwipe and Infineon have a long-standing relationship. Infineon’s Secure Element is currently deployed in all pilot projects featuring Zwipe’s biometric payment platform, currently supporting multiple leading payment networks run by 12 major banks in various countries across Europe and the Middle East. Card manufacturers plan to certify fully biometric payment cards and make them commercially available this year.
Commenting on this partnership, André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe, said “We are proud to strengthen our long-standing partnership with a global technology leader such as Infineon. This collaboration further enhances our ability to commercialize our technology and IP through competitive solutions for mass-volume deployment.”
Bjoern Scharfen, Head of Payment & Wearables at Infineon had the following to say: “Our collaboration and joint offering with Zwipe is a key accelerator of mass deployment in the biometric payment market.”
Working together, the two technology companies will seek to develop advanced integrated solutions optimized to the volume requirements of biometric dual-interface payment cards. The platforms being developed combine simplified card design with reduced bills of material.
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*Secure Element (SE) is a microprocessor chip which can store sensitive data and run secure apps such as payment. It acts as a vault, protecting the information inside the SE (applications and data) against malware attacks that can be typical launched against the host (i.e. device operating system).
OSLO, NORWAY– 3 JUNE 2019 – Biometric technology company Zwipe and Goldpac, China’s largest secure payment solution provider are partnering to launch biometric payment cards, enrolment offerings and related services to Goldpac’s extensive customer network, including some of the largest financial organizations in the world.
Goldpac is fully certified by VISA, MasterCard, China Union Pay, American Express, JCB and Diners. As one of the top payment card producers in the world and the largest in the Asia Pacific region, Goldpac supplies payment smartcard chips, instant issuance card kiosks and card personalization /issuance solutions.
Speaking on this partnership, Oliver Hui, Senior Vice President of Goldpac Group, said “At Goldpac, we focus on supplying our customers with state-of-the-art fintech solutions that help them succeed in today’s dynamic payment ecosystem, and doing so innovatively and securely. Biometric cards enable our card issuance customers to in turn provide their end users with cards that are secure and convenient to use, such as for payments or for identification, and we are excited to work with Zwipe to qualify and then introduce their biometric technology to our customer base, in the process providing a winning solution to our customers.”
The complete collaboration will include licensing of Zwipe intellectual property, technical integration of Zwipe components and hardware, adoption of Zwipe’s suite of enrolment solutions and advisory services, targeting biometric payment card pilots with various issuers before the end of 2019.
Commenting on this milestone agreement, André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe said “ Goldpac is one of the largest, and fastest growing innovators in the global payment card market and we are excited to support their efforts in commercializing biometric payment solutions globally.”
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OSLO, NORWAY – 3 JUNE 2019 – Biometric technology company Zwipe today announced that Lisbeth Breum has notified the company that she is resigning from her position as chief financial officer effective 31 August 2019 to assume a CFO role in a company unrelated to biometrics, smart cards or payments.
“On behalf of the Zwipe team, I want to thank Lisbeth for her contributions during formative years for Zwipe. We wish her all the best in her future endeavors,” said André Løvestam, Zwipe CEO. The company is in the process of finding a new CFO and will announce this when concluded. “We have added new capacities to both our technology and operations teams during the last year. The new CFO will join a team built to drive the next part of our journey towards international commercialization of Zwipe’s leading solutions”, Løvestam added.
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