In an equity swap deal, Prism Card Technologies, member of the Johannesburg based Prism group of companies announced its acquisition of a smart card production facility previously owned by Reunert subsidiary Telephone Manufacturers of SA (TEMSA).
In a move designed to further shorten lead times for the African retail or bank client that wants to roll out smart cards as part of a payment or loyalty solution, Prism has become Africa's first complete card solutions provider. "Nowhere else in Africa can you find one organisation that can handle software development, soft mask piloting, full card production and personalisation all under one local - but internationally recognised - roof" commented Prism Card Technologies director Deon Visser.
Chris Dewe, previously Temsa general manager, chip-cards, now Prism director responsible for Smart Card manufacture, stated that he was extremely pleased that the deal had been concluded. "The combination of Temsa's card plant with our team of highly skilled personnel, coupled with Prism's strengths in the field of card and payment technology design and supply allows us to provide powerful, customised solutions for a broad spectrum of applications. In addition, the expanding telecommunications requirements of the electronic payment market will present opportunities for Temsa and Prism to exploit the synergies between these fields to mutual benefit."
Already well positioned as suppliers of South African banking smart-cards, Prism Card Technologies now has the means to locally respond to all forms of card scheme development. Prism group marketing director Duncan Todd elaborates, "Local volumes will always be small potatoes in the context of large European supplier production runs, so it has been essential for us to vertically integrate the full physical production process locally to shorten time to market for our regional customers. We're producing locally to global ISO and card association standards. As an example, we're able to roll-out custom loyalty solutions coupled with payment technology that complies with local banking standards in a smart card format that inter-operates under the emerging global Europay-MasterCard-VISA application layer - all from within South Africa with complete control over software and hardware production lead times."
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