AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, today announced that its Optelio banking card has been certified to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) requirements. Optelio is perfectly suited for the local market, as it hosts the Saudi Payments Network (SPAN) application, the debit card functionality deployed in Saudi Arabia. The Gemalto product is also compatible with the GlobalPlatform specifications (the standard for smart card infrastructure), the Visa Electron and the Debit MasterCard and Maestro Card requirements, making it usable worldwide.

These certifications enable Gemalto to complete its existing Multos offer for the Saudi Arabian banking market, the largest in the Gulf Region with over 10 million debit cards in use, and to support local financial institutions in their EMV migration. Optelio lets dual-issuer banks seamlessly deliver either Visa’s VSDC or MasterCard’s M/Chip applications on the same product, with the flexibility offered by the GlobalPlatform standard. In the personalization phase, banks can implement either scheme using the same infrastructure, which significantly simplifies logistics.

“We are proud to offer this innovative and secure payment solution to Saudi Arabia,” commented Philippe Cambriel, EVP Secure Transactions Business Unit at Gemalto. “These certifications confirm that Gemalto has the widest portfolio in the industry, covering all applications and technology platforms.”

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2008 annual revenues of €1.68 billion, and 10,000 employees operating out of 75 offices, research and service centers in 40 countries.

Gemalto is at the heart of our evolving digital society. The freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain, and work—anytime, anywhere—has become an integral part of what people want and expect, in ways that are convenient, enjoyable and secure.

Gemalto delivers on the growing demands of billions of people worldwide for mobile connectivity, identity and data protection, credit card safety, health and transportation services, e-government and national security. We do this by supplying to governments, wireless operators, banks and enterprises a wide range of secure personal devices, such as subscriber identification modules (SIM) in mobile phones, smart banking cards, smart card access badges, electronic passports, and USB tokens for online identity protection. To complete the solution we also provide software, systems and services to help our customers achieve their goals.

As the use of Gemalto’s software and secure devices increases with the number of people interacting in the digital and wireless world, the company is poised to thrive over the coming years.

For more information please visit www.gemalto.com.