AFS set to assist BNP Paribas in becoming the first EMV compliant credit cards issuer in Bahrain.

Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain- February 15, 2006

Arab Financial Services Company B.S.C (c) (AFS), the region’s leading provider of electronic-payments and consumer finance-outsourcing services, has announced an agreement with BNP Paribas Bank to provide the bank with EMV migration services which will ultimately enable BNP Paribas bank branches in UAE, Qatar and Bahrain to issue EMV compliant credit cards for its customers.
According to the recently signed agreement, AFS will provide BNP Paribas Bank with technical support as well as consulting services to facilitate the migration to its current system to become EMV compliant. The services AFS is set to provide BNP Paribas Bank will include; EMV certification support, Applications System setup, online testing and certification, Launching live program, Chip Card Vendor Selection.

Mr. Mohamed Bakkal - Regional Secretaire General, BNP Paribas Bank: ‘EMV Compliance is a high priority for BNP Paribas. The Bank is committed to successfully completing the EMV migration requirements as soon as possible. We believe in bringing our card services to a world-class standard and EMV compliance is a must to achieve that objective. AFS was naturally the preferred partner because of its extensive experience in payment cards management and its state-of-the-art- technical capabilities.’

EMV is arguably the most radical change to the card payment industry since the original introduction of payment cards. The implementation of an EMV smart card based payment infrastructure will not only put an end to card related fraud, it will also support a whole new generation of card-based applications that will reduce operating costs, create new business opportunities and revenue channels for banks.

Mr. Rasool Hujair AFS CEO commented, ‘Moving ahead with this agreement means that BNP Paribas will be one of the very first banks in Bahrain with card products meeting the EMV requirements of MasterCard. We are pleased with the assignment to enable the banks achieve their business objectives.’

‘We offer our client banks a smooth migration to EMV at a lowest cost possible; our Card Personalization Center is both Visa /MasterCard certified, equipped with the state-of-the-art technology and supported by experienced staff to produce EMV compliant cards that can be delivered to banks’ customers around the clock’. Mr. Hujair concluded.