EPCA

SmartSoft-IT wins the EPCA/ECR award for excellence in payments

Istanbul, May 16, 2006 - SmartSoft-IT, the leading provider of end-to-end Banking solutions with MasterCard and Visa Standards (EMV), has won the EPCA(European Payment Consultants Association)/ECR (European Card Review) excellence award for the 'Most innovative and advanced payments software/hardware product'.

At the ceremony, held in Frankfurt, John Chaplin of CC Associates presented the Excellence award to SmartSoft-IT for its Instant Banking card issuance solution, an innovative and revolutionary solution that addresses the issuance of Banking chip card at the customer facing points instantly.

With the current migration in the banking industry towards CHIP&PIN, banks are looking to capitalize on essential EMV technology investments by offering more personalized services to their customers. SmartSoft-IT introduced SmartInstant Suite in response to this. SmartInstant is one of the world's first solutions to provide customers with chip payment cards in real time. Banks already implementing the solution have experienced its benefits in terms of reduced mailing costs, minimized potential errors during deployment, and improved control and flexibility which enables them to deliver a more dynamic service to their customers.

This announcement comes in a period of rapid growth for SmartSoft-IT who has EMV chip technology as its core business from the very first day. The company has implemented the first MasterCard PayPass project in Europe last summer. Technology focus and Innovation has been the core criteria of success for SmartSoft's products which are developed based on real life banking requirements.

With SmartInstant suite, o combination of a real time central chip card issuance system and branch application to securely issue chip cards, SmartSoft helps banks issue contactless new technology cards as well. Garanti Bank in Turkey, well known with their loyalty brand BONUS, issues PayPass cards used by customers in Burger King and Starbucks cafes. Instant contactless payment cards issuance feature opens up new business lines like contactless cards for pre-authorized and mass transit payments as well.

According to Murat Guzel, SmartSoft-IT CEO, "An innovative customer-driven approach to solutions delivery has laid the foundation for our success. In the banking industry, especially after chip cards are in place, introducing new customer services is an integral part of and a natural extension to our business strategy. We will continue to support all customer's chip issuing and acquiring needs and are pleased that EPCA has approved our dedication to the industry with this honor."