Seguro Popular, one of the Mexican government’s social security organizations, is adopting smart cards for its members, says Gemplus International, the France-based smart card maker that is supplying 3.7 million cards to the agency.

Read the full article at CardTechnology.

Latin American countries are predicted to spend over USD 200 million on card technologies in 2006, or 70% more than in 2004 and 2005, with the goal of full EMV migration by 2008. At end-2005, the region’s card penetration was almost 27%, up from 17% in 2000, and exceeded 30% in Brazil and Mexico. Card fraud rose by almost 15 per cent annually in this period, and was the catalyst for Latin banks to assess the case for migrating to EMV under a wider initiative to enhance their competitive edge and increase the region�s card penetration.

Read the full article at ePaynew.com.

While privacy remains a major concern for people around the world, a majority of consumers would share personal data if they knew the information was securely protected and if sharing it would make their lives easier, according to Unisys Corp.’s Global Study on the Public’s Perceptions about Identity Management.

Read the full article at Computer World.

As the process of consolidation and acquisition among Latin American banks has matured, key players have shifted their attention to new technologies, seeking to boost card penetration and to reinforce their competitive positions. The new EMV smart cards are on the leading edge of this trend.

Smart card vendors will ship more than 2.2 billion smart cards worldwide this year, 20% more than in 2005, according to projections released today by vendor association Eurosmart. Shipments will increase in nearly all market segments, including subscriber identity module cards for mobile phones, banking smart cards and chip-based ID cards and documents, said the organization today in a press conference.

Read the full article at CardTechnology.

Banks and credit card companies issued nearly 80 million smart cards complying with the international EMV standard during the last six months of 2005, according to EMVCo, the organization that maintains the standard.

Read the full article at CardTechnology.

Latin America’s card payment systems are reported to be nearing maturity, and the economies of scale necessary for sustained growth as POS terminal penetration and card issuing increases. Credit card penetration grew by almost 20% annually in some Latin American countries in the past five years and now runs at 40 per cent in Brazil and Argentina. In 2004, Brazil’s installed base of card terminals reached half a million in total and in the state of Sao Paulo from 2004 to 2006, over USD 55 million was spent on POS terminal, ATM and network technologies.

Read the full article at ePaynews.com.

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 28–Successful projects around the world, like transit and ID programs in APAC, along with advances in the U.S. payments market, are stirring up interest in the rest of the world where these applications are slower to take off. Lessons learned and flourishing use of these contactless cards in some countries give confidence to other regions to follow suit.

Congress looks to be heading for a deadlock on President Bush’s plan for guest-worker program, and that is exactly what a private-sector foundation is counting on so its plan can be considered.

Read the full article at The Washington Times.

Sales of high-tech products such as wireless and Internet Protocol payment terminals helped VeriFone Holdings Inc. post a 21% revenue gain in its first fiscal 2006 quarter, but merchants with limited needs also helped out.

Read the full article at Digital Transactions.