ABSA buys 25 000 terminal licences on Postilion to enable its debit card program.
Mosaic and ABSA Bank have concluded a deal for 25 000 terminal licences on Mosaic's Acquirer Position product. The increase from the existing 5 000 licences enables ABSA to roll out debit card capability on its Point of Sale Terminals. ABSA and Standard Bank are firmly committed to rolling out debit card programs countrywide.
Acquirer Postilion is a Windows NT based front end terminal and transaction management system that provides the functionality required to manage both debit and credit card transactions from dial-up terminals on a single infrastructure. The difference between the two lies in the entry of a PIN on debit card transactions. This means the system must manage a sophisticated cryptographic security infrastructure because debit card transactions are authorized and captured on-line. This methodology is used as opposed to updating a batch of transactions when the terminal banks, which is used for Credit cards.
ABSA chose a cryptographic scheme DUKPT (Derived Unique Key Per Transaction) for its debit roll-out. This scheme, which is used internationally, changes a cryptographic key on every transaction at every terminal. This ensures that even if two transactions are done immediately after one another on the same terminal, the PIN will be encrypted differently. This ensures the system remains secure.
ABSA currently operates 8 000 terminals through Postilion. Roll out to all terminals will take place over the next 12 months. Richard Peasey, Assistant General Manager of Direct Banking Systems for ABSA, explains the choice of Positilion: "ABSA's debit card program is being implemented on a very tight schedule, and we needed to have a complex infrastructure in place very rapidly. The Postilion system provided ABSA with a solution that can meet these requirements. The fact that Postilion is a technology developed by a South African company that is being sold internationally is also very exciting."
According to Francois van Schoor, General Manager of Mosaic's distribution in Africa, the deal further establishes Postilion as the new technology platform of choice for merchants acquiring systems in South Africa. "Today Postilion manages by far the largest proportion of all magnetic stripe debit card terminals and approximately 10% of all merchant acquiring terminals in the country. This will rise 35% over the next few months as roll outs at Pick n Pay, ABSA, Telkom and Edgars proceed."
Editors note
About Mosaic Software
Mosaic Software is a cutting edge provider of electronic funds transfer software (EFT) for consumer generated payment transactions. Special emphasis is placed on the delivery of EFT solutions for Internet banking and Internet commerce and all the company's products form part of Mosaic Software's Postilion range. Created from the merger of two Cape Town IT companies in 1994, Mosaic is based in South Africa with significant and fast growing global interests. Today international markets contribute nearly 70% of the company's turnover and offices are run from Cape Town, London and Fort Lauderdale. Mosaic Software is entrenched in the financial services industry and its EFT solutions drive operations in a large number of multinational companies and industry leaders around the globe. Internationally Postilion is central to services provided by Card Clear (UK), Calypso (USA), Visa Argentina and Royal & Sun Alliance (UK). Local clients include retailers Pick`nPay and Edgars and banks ABSA, Saambou Bank and NBS.
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