Mr. Michael Kuemmerle
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In all its markets, G&D is a global leader and pioneering innovator in the production and processing of banknotes and banknote paper, security documents, identification systems and solutions based on smart cards. As an end-to-end provider of mobile security applications, G&D develops and sells hardware, software, and services for banks, mobile network operators, public transportation companies, business enterprises, and OEMs.
F&S: The Smart Card industry is in flux. How do you see it evolving?
Mr. Michael Kuemmerle:
The international smart-card industry is indeed facing dynamic changes – and these offer many new opportunities. One major driver of change is the worldwide increase in mobile internet usage and the fast-growing interest in smart phones. As a consequence, more and more demanding applications such as payment or ticketing will move to the consumer’s mobile phone. Together with ongoing evolutions in smart-card technology – such as the migration to EMV, new contactless features and the beginnings of mass deployment of LTE – this development opens up attractive growth perspectives for our market. At the same time, new cooperations and alliances within the internet, telecommunications and financial industries will further accelerate things; one current example is Google entering the NFC-based payment market in the US. This, and the exploration of the immense market potential for machine-to-machine (M2M) applications, affords complex technological competences combining expertise across both the financial and the telecommunications sector. Given its many years of experience in these two areas, G&D is ideally placed to grasp these opportunities as they arise.
