Dashen Bank and ACI Introduce Visa Cards to Ethiopia
31 May 2005
ACI Worldwide (Nasdaq:TSAI - News), a leading international provider of enterprise e-payment solutions, has licensed its BASE24® e-payment processing solution to Dashen Bank, a private commercial bank in Ethiopia. ACI's flagship software will help Dashen Bank to become the first bank in Ethiopia to issue and acquire Visa cards. The bank has also chosen ACI Card Management System(TM) and ACI Smart Chip Manager(TM) software to support the bank's card operations business.
Dashen Bank will deploy ACI software to issue cards and authorise, route and switch both ATM and POS transactions while meeting processing requirements for EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) smart card transactions. This project will be carried out with the assistance of SS Communications, ACI's local partner in Ethiopia and an HP NonStop accredited support partner. The solution will run on an HP NonStop(TM) platform.
Dashen Bank is the first bank in Ethiopia to be appointed a principal member of Visa. The bank's decision to select ACI's world-class technology was prompted by a number of key requirements including the need for a scalable solution to meet aggressive transaction growth objectives, support for multiple delivery channels and devices, and the ability to offer world-class card payment services to over 260,000 customer accounts in Ethiopia.
"We have a reputation for harnessing the advanced capabilities of IT to improve our service to customers and contribute to the bottom line," said Ato Lulseged Teferi, president of Dashen Bank. "Our decision to invest in ACI technology is no exception. ACI is the recognised market leader in consumer payments software, and its BASE24 system meets our current requirements while providing the flexibility to enhance our service offerings in the future."
ACI technology will initially support ATM and POS delivery channels at Dashen Bank, with the option to support the emerging Internet and mobile channels in future. With ACI, Dashen Bank will now also be able to support all card types including credit, debit and smart cards. The bank will also benefit from interfaces to global credit and debit networks.
"ACI's consultancy approach and tailor-made solutions can help developing banks deliver new and enhanced customer service while giving increased return on investment," said Richard Launder, managing director of ACI Worldwide EMEA. "With ACI's technology in place, Dashen Bank can address a wide range of processing needs for its e-payment operation, including multi-currency and the issuance of smart cards and e-commerce, all on a world-class platform that delivers a reliable and scalable transaction infrastructure."
"We are delighted to take the lead in providing Ethiopian consumers with the convenience of payment cards," added Teferi. "This marks a significant milestone in our development, and we expect to coincide the launch of the cards with our 10th anniversary in December 2005. Between now and then, the project team will be hard at work with the installation, testing and certification of the payments infrastructure."
ACI Smart Chip Manager will be utilised to issue and manage the life cycle of EMV compliant Visa Smart Debit and Credit smart cards, with the option in future to personalise any type of smart card, manage the EMV application parameters and post issue new applications to multiple application card schemes. In addition to handling settlement with Visa, the ACI Card Management System, a complete plastic card system for issuing cards, will maintain account information, track card usage, and provide customer service.
About Dashen Bank
The Banker recently named Dashen Bank its 2004 Bank of the Year for Ethiopia. This is the fourth consecutive year that Dashen Bank has received this award. The awards reflect outstanding quality and innovation in the financial world, and the 106 individual country winners represent the cream of the global banking community. On the domestic side, Dashen Bank holds the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce award for Best Enterprise and Most Respected CEO award for its president, Ato Lulseged Teferi. Today Dashen serves over 260,000 deposit customers and speaks of deposit balance of Birr 2.5 Billion.
About ACI Worldwide
Every second of every day, consumers are initiating electronic payment transactions--getting cash at ATMs, using debit and credit cards to make purchases in stores and on the Internet, banking by phone and PC, and paying bills online. Over 50 billion times a year, ACI software is used to process these transactions, powering the world's online payment systems. ACI was founded in 1975 and pioneered the development of applications and networking software for online transaction processing. Today more than 500 customers in 78 countries use ACI supplied software. Visit ACI Worldwide on the Internet at www.aciworldwide.com
Any statements in this press release regarding projected results are preliminary and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In addition, this press release may contain other forward-looking statements including statements regarding Transaction Systems Architects, Inc.'s ("TSA"), its subsidiaries or third parties' expectations, predictions, views, opportunities, plans, strategies, beliefs, and statements of similar effect. The forward-looking statements in this press release are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially.
For a detailed discussion of these and other risk factors, interested parties should review the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's Form 10-K filed on December 14, 2004, the Company's Form 10-Q/A filed on February 18, 2005, and the Company's 10-Q filed on May 10, 2005.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
ACI Worldwide
John Walker, +44 1923 81 2741
walkerjo@aciworldwide.com
or
Jim Maxwell, 402-390-8906
maxwellj@aciworldwide.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: ACI Worldwide
Source: Business Wire
All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
Related Articles
|
