Another new partnership is poised to help Zwipe further solidify its position in the Middle East in anticipation of a coming boom for biometric payment cards. The Norwegian company has teamed up with Saudi Arabia’s GEPCOM, one of the oldest card makers in the region.
GEPCOM – or “Gulf Printing Products Manufacturers’ Factory – was founded in 1989, and lays claim to having introduced plastic payment card manufacturing to the Arab world. The company first engaged with Zwipe earlier this year, and, according to a statement from the two companies, it has now selected the Zwipe Pay ONE solution as its “preferred biometric card platform” after “extensive evaluation of available alternatives”.
The partnership will see Zwipe providing biometric technology and technical services to get GEPCOM set up for manufacturing Zwipe Pay ONE “test cards” in the first quarter of next year. The plan is to engage in pilots of the biometric payment cards in Q2 of 2022, with Zwipe and GEPCOM asserting that they are already working together to engage issuers in Saudi Arabia.
Commenting on the partnership, GEPCOM General Manager Yousef Ahmed Abed gestured to the convenience and security advantages of fingerprint-scanning payment cards, and praised Zwipe for the sophistication of its technology.
“In collaboration with Zwipe, we will deliver payment cards that will enable payments to be completely touch-less through a PIN-free checkout experience for consumers with much higher security,” he said. “Our assessment shows that Zwipe Pay ONE represents the most advanced and high-performing solution and will be the first mass-market viable platform.”
The GEPCOM partnership solidifies an already strong position held by Zwipe in the Middle East, with the company having previously teamed up with multiple partners in the region including Inkript, NymCard, Middle East Payment Services, and Que Processing Services.
Ramzi Saboury, who was named as Zwipe’s General Manager for the Middle East and North Africa earlier this year, emphasized in the company’s latest announcement that Saudi Arabia is “one of the most important markets in the MENA region,” adding that “Zwipe will be supporting GEPCOM’s clients during their launch processes to ensure the best customer experience and successful commercialization.”
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