Société Générale Launches Its Contactless Payment Service in Strasbourg, France with Oberthur Technologies

Oberthur Technologies, one of the world’s largest providers of security and identification solutions and services based on smart card technologies and Société Générale, one of the largest European financial services groups, today announced that they launched the bank’s first NFC Visa payment service on June 26th in Strasbourg, France relying on Oberthur Technologies’ Trusted Service Manager (TSM) platform.

The NFC ecosystem is progressively maturing in France with several commercial deployments either planned or in progress in large cities. The successful launch of Société Générale’s NFC service with two French mobile operators in Strasbourg means that Oberthur Technologies is the first TSM supplier demonstrating the end-to-end interoperability of its NFC offer with TSM and SIM cards from other suppliers.

Société Générale strives to develop innovative ways of simplifying everyday payments for all its clients, with contactless payment services at the core of their strategy. The bank’s customers will be able to subscribe to this NFC payment service that will enable them to pay with their phone at all the point-of-sales equipped with contactless terminals throughout the country. To complement this, the bank already provides dual payment cards, facilitating contactless payment, for those who do not have an NFC-enabled handset or who simply want to have both means of payment.

“Oberthur Technologies has historically been one of our main suppliers of payment cards and a partner in the deployment of mobile secure services. We are confident that the company is well-placed to support us in the national launch of our NFC payment service in France” said Philippe Marquetty, Head of Payments & Cash Management at Société Générale.

“In Strasbourg, we reaffirmed our leadership as a TSM provider by being the first to demonstrate the end-to-end interoperability of our NFC offer. This major achievement validates once again the ‘TSM split model’, Oberthur Technologies’ main contribution in current standards. We are really proud to be the trustful partner of Société Générale and of several other French players for the national launch of NFC services” said Arnaud de La Chapelle, Managing Director of the Solutions Business Unit at Oberthur Technologies.

About Oberthur Technologies
Oberthur Technologies is a world leader in the field of secure technologies: systems development, solutions and services for smart cards (payment cards, SIM cards, access cards, NFC…) and for secure identity documents, traditional and electronic (identity card, passport, health care card). Created in 1984, Oberthur Technologies employs over 6 000 employees. With 50 sales offices across 5 continents, Oberthur Technologies’ international network serves clients in 140 countries.
For more information: www.oberthur.com