Poland-based PKO Bank Polski has selected Gemalto, a provider of digital solutions, for the migration of its entire portfolio of Visa debit cards for individual clients, from magnetic stripe technology straight to EMV contactless.
Mass deployment started in September 2010 and the bank plans to issue around 6.5 million Visa payWave cards to its customers by the end of 2011.
PKO Bank Polski is the first bank in Poland to convert an entire card portfolio to contactless, leading the way to the introduction of this new technology in the country.
The deployment of Visa payWave is part of PKO BP’s strategy to offer new products to its customers and to boost the development of cashless transactions in Poland.
In addition to the security of EMV, the EMV card also allows cardmembers to pay for purchases up to 50 Polish Zloty (EUR12.5).
PKO Bank Polski director of Center for credit cards and cards transactions Katarzyna Sosin said for such a massive rollout, in such a short period of time, PKO Bank needed a reliable partner with a proven track record in EMV contactless deployments and a strong presence in Poland.
"Spurred by the hefty challenge, the Gemalto team provided premium quality services which enable our migration program to unfold smoothly," Sosin said.