Gemalto Provides Combined Innovative Identity and Payment Card Technology for Santander Universities Global Division in Brazil

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands & SÃO PAULO, Brazil--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, today announced it is providing Banco Santander with innovative technology for its university identity card program. It is Brazil’s first multi-functional smart card combining EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) payment and contactless access control on a single ID card, to be used within the university buildings – for students, teachers and staff. Gemalto delivers the cards to the universities and personalizes each card with the cardholder’s unique data at its personalization center in Barueri, São Paulo.

“In addition to more secure access control to campus buildings and facilities, other functionalities could include loyalty programs that give students points or discounts when they use certain services, or payment programs such as pre-paid credits for expenses.”

The Gemalto card can be used for a wide variety of services and applications. For instance, students have the option to use their card as a Banco Santander EMV debit card, benefiting from the ongoing EMV migration in Brazil.

Unicamp was first to join in the Santander University program with cards for the EMV payment functionality. Anhanguera will be first to use the new multi-functional card. Santander University Division has already started distributing the cards to Anhanguera Campus, in Valinhos (São Paulo).

With this program, the bank expects that more than 100,000 students will have Gemalto´s cards by the end of 2008. At Anhanguera University, the contactless card enables more secure access to buildings such as libraries and labs, where it will replace the barcode system and magnetic stripe. Students can use a single card to check out books from the library and to pay at their cafeteria, for photocopy and for other student expenses.

“Gemalto is the partner that enables our university program, with this unique product,” commented Samuelson Drumond, University Card Manager for Santander in Brazil. ”It opens up an array of options to differentiate the university in the service provision to students. Besides complying to the current universities’ technology, the card also allows for a technological leap.”

“Santander is opening up many possibilities by offering Gemalto’s smart card, because the universities can customize the cards with the mix of applications that best fits their students’ needs”, states Luis Cohen, Gemalto´s Director for the Finance Market for the South Cone. “In addition to more secure access control to campus buildings and facilities, other functionalities could include loyalty programs that give students points or discounts when they use certain services, or payment programs such as pre-paid credits for expenses.”

Other possible new applications include digital signature, integration with public transportation secure storage of data, and secure access to university computer networks. The contactless functionality can even be used to register class attendance, eliminating the need for professors to spend time calling out the attendance sheets.

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is the leader in digital security with pro forma 2007 annual revenues of over €1.6 billion, more than 85 offices in 40 countries and about 10,000 employees including 1,300 R&D engineers. In a world where the digital revolution is increasingly transforming our lives, Gemalto’s solutions are designed to make personal digital interactions more convenient, secure and enjoyable.

Gemalto provides end-to-end solutions for digital security, from the development of software applications, through the design and production of secure personal devices such as smart cards, SIMs, e-passports, and tokens to the deployment of managed services for its customers. More than a billion people worldwide use the company's products and services for telecommunications, financial services, e-government, identity management, multimedia content, digital rights management, IT security, mass transit and many other applications.

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

About Santander Universities program: international support to education

Supporting higher education is the main social responsibility focus of Santander Group, which has partnership with 700 universities around the world and more than 260 partners in Brazil. Since Santander Universities was created in 1996, the bank invested more than a billion reais (the Brazilian currency) in initiatives to support education around the world. Until 2010, 10,000 national and international scholarships will be given away to enhance Brazilian university students and professor´s education in different disciplines. Besides the scholarships and the digital spaces, another important iniciative of the institution is the granting of Santander Entrepreneurship and Science and Innovation Awards, encouraging academic researches.

For more information, please visit: www.santanderuniversidades.com.br > Instituições de Ensino Superior (Higher Education Institutions; site in Brazilian Portuguese).