Montreal's GFI Solutions Catching The Wave Of The Future
Robert Gibbens writes for the Montreal Gazette about Gilles Letourneau - mathematician, computer expert, co-founder and CEO of Montreal's of Montreal's GFI Solutions Inc., a specialist in niche services, such as back-office systems and electronic payments.
Rising credit and debit card fraud is driving the costly changeover to smart cards, he said. The Canadian banks have accepted the Europe's EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) global payment standard for smart cards. The challenge now is to hold conversion costs down and ensure a smooth transition.Smart cards, looking much like magnetic-stripe cards, have a small microcomputer or chip containing all the information (including personal identification) needed to complete transactions. The smart card goes directly into a "reader" for authentication. Magnetic-stripe cards are easily copied, but duplicating a smart card chip is difficult.
The Canadian Bankers Association calls the changeover a "huge undertaking since all cards, merchant terminals and cash and bank machines have to be replaced. ... We expect the first chip transactions early in 2007."
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