Best of Europe

Thanks to the MasterCard® OneSmartT program, Bank Asya customers in Turkey can use a single card for both contact and contactless payments, perform secure remote transactions, and pay to cross the Bosphorus bridges.

Waterloo, Belgium, July 1, 2008 -- MasterCard and Bank Asya have launched Asyacard DIT - a multi-application chip and PIN card, combining the power of MasterCard EMV OneSmart features with an integrated municipal toll and transit application to create one of the world's most versatile and advanced chip cards. The card also offers the additional benefits of MasterCard® PayPassT contactless technology.

The MasterCard OneSmart program helps banks to develop new chip-based added value applications quickly and easily. Using the AsyaCard DIT, Bank Asya customers can pay at over 109,000 merchant locations worldwide as of 1Q2008, using MasterCard PayPass contactless technology with a simple tap. The card also includes MasterCard® Chip Authentication ProgramT (CAP), a secure two-factor authentication technology, which allows customers to securely access online account information. The PC-connected version of the CAP personal card reader for the AsyaCard DIT also enables cardholders to securely top-up offline balances for PayPass payments and to securely interact with public transport applications.

Bank Asya's innovative approach of putting toll and transit functions onto a contactless smart cards has allowed them to seize the opportunity offered by the Kahramanmaras Public Transportation Project, a municipal initiative in Eastern Turkey. AsyaCard DIT owners can also use their cards on the tolls on motorways and bridges, including the two bridges over the Bosphorus Straight in Istanbul that connects Europe and Asia. With the full support of MasterCard and using leading edge technologies offered by SmartSoft, Turkish payment software provider, Bank Asya issued a unique card that has this many built-in features for the first time.

AsyaCard DIT holders can also receive their cards immediately in the banks' branches (instant issuance), avoiding the usual wait for a card to arrive.

"This highly innovative multi-solution from Bank Asya proves that the MasterCard OneSmart program brings real value to payment card products," said Toni Merschen, Group Head Chip at MasterCard Worldwide and added that "It's great to see that banks in Turkey are now reaping the rewards of the effort that they all put into migrating to chip and PIN (EMV) technology."

Bank Asya's Executive  Vice President Mustafa Buyukates  said that "Bank Asya continues to provide its valuable customers with a variety of new and exciting products with the motto "Different Solutions for Different Expectations". While we examine carefully the needs of our customers through different distribution channels, we serve our client base with the latest technological developments in the banking sector and will continue to follow the developments in the credit card technology and provide these services to "ease the customers' life'. "

About MasterCard Europe
MasterCard Europe  is the entity responsible for managing MasterCard Worldwide?s business in Europe - for Europe. With headquarters in Waterloo, Belgium, MasterCard Europe works with 51 European countries organized administratively into three customer areas, incorporating the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), mature markets and the developing markets of Europe, stretching as far afield as the eastern border of Russia. Through its network of local offices, MasterCard Europe can understand and meet the diverse needs of customers in the very different types of markets throughout Europe, enabling people to do business in their own way in their own language.

Through MasterCard Worldwide, MasterCard Europe offers its European customers and consumers access to leading payment services throughout the world. MasterCard Worldwide advances global commerce by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, businesses, cardholders and merchants worldwide. As a franchisor, processor and advisor, MasterCard develops and markets payment solutions, processes over 18 billion transactions each year, and provides industry-leading analysis and consulting services to financial institution customers and merchants. Through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro® and Cirrus®, MasterCard serves consumers and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories.  For more information go to www.mastercard.com.

About the MasterCard® OneSmartT Program
OneSmart is a program that leverages the technical superiority of Chip [applications, complex data, and encryption] to provide the best possible solutions for cardholders. By extending our transactional and security expertise, we bring additional value to MasterCard brands for banks and cardholders alike.

About Bank Asya
Bank Asya is a leading Turkish bank that provides a wide range of banking products and services to its commercial and retail customers with number of issued credit card reached over 1.000.000 individual card members. Bank Asya provides banking services through its network of 124 Bank Asya branches located primarily in Western and Southern Turkey. Bank Asya also offers its services through alternative distribution channels such as ATMs, call centrers and internet banking.

About SmartSoft
SmartSoft is a software development company located in Istanbul, Turkey, specializing in chip card software development technology. Dedicated completely to EMV, payment technologies, and smart card software, it has developed a wide range of products, most of which are approved by global card brands, to support issuing and accepting institutions to manage their card business. SmartSoft is monitoring EMV and chip-based standards very closely and is dedicated to excellent product quality, end to end / innovative solutions (contactless, instant issuing) and customer satisfaction.