January 6, 2010
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News: French Company Pledges to Help Germans
The French have embraced a troubling German credit card industry in the wake of the recent computer glitch that left millions of Germans stuck at the automatic teller machines (ATM) and retailers' card payment processing programs stumped. Gemalto, a French credit card chip maker offered their services to the Germans to help them find a swift resolve to the computer glitch problem. Gemalto is the world's largest manufacturer of a mobile phone credit card chip has partnered with German banks in search of a resolution that would eliminate the need to a costly replacement of millions of cards. The cost is estimated to run nearly $430 million dollars.
Olivier Piou the Chief Executive of Gemalto said in a statement that the company has every intention on meeting their contractual obligations and will do all they can to minimize credit cardholders' inconveniences. It is estimated that over 25 percent of the 120 million giro credit cards in German circulation is affected by the software glitch. A large majority of those cards are supplied by the French company. Gemalto supplies a variety of industries with SIM cards, Universal Integrated Circuit Cards for mobile phones, Smart banking cards, electronic passports, and USB tokens used for online identity protection.
The problem was reported on Sunday when German Savings Bank Association announced that German debit and credit card customers experienced what the association called a "belated year 2000 problem" when their cards wouldn't work at merchants' point of sales or ATM's outside Germany beginning January 1st. The media reported that 20 to 45 million cardholders were affected. Lenders received massive consumer complaints that they were unable to withdraw cash from ATM machines or process retail transactions.
More than a billion individuals worldwide use the Gemalto credit card chip and services. Retailers are also outraged by the loss of millions in retail sales as a result of the computer glitch. Germany's HDE Retail Association says they will be addressing the issue of compensation from the banks. Meanwhile, the creative efforts of some retailers have allowed them to process card payment by placing a simple piece of adhesive tape over the card's chip.