Credit card and payment solutions: new benefits for Latin businesses and consumers

Latin Trade, May, 2003

In addition to customs and delivery services, MasterDelivery provides access to catalogs that use toll-free 800 numbers in the United States and Canada and electronic tracking of all packages from the moment they arrive in Miami.

For more information, visit www.mastercard.com.

Cards can facilitate online shopping.

By Mauricio A. Gallardo Velasquez, Credit Card Product Manager, Banco Agricola de El Salvador

Using the Internet to shop for certain products can result in significant cash savings for Latin American businesses and individuals. However, most North American merchants prefer to charge their online transactions to a U.S. credit card and ship to a U.S. address.

But, there are innovative approaches that facilitate online shopping for Latin customers. For example, Banco Agricola de El Salvador offers

Visa Business Netc@rd and Visa Personal Netc@rd programs that allow cardholders to make Internet purchases from more than 12 million sites worldwide, and have them shipped to a U.S. post office box in Miami.

After the products arrive in Miami, they are immediately shipped to the cardholder in Latin America by an express freight service. Packages are fully insured, and can be tracked online at every step of the way. A cardholder can use the Netc@rd to pay the courier fee as well. This type of solution is particularly valuable for businesses that may need office equipment, such as printers, copiers or specialized software that is not readily available in their local market. A company that orders one or two computers a year, for instance, may find that using this type of card for online purchasing is substantially more cost-effective than using a traditional importing approach.

For more information, visit www.bancoagricola.com.

Smart choices can cut cost of smart cards.

By Benoit Guez, Vice President of Smart Cards and International Business, CPI Card Group.

In launching a smart card program, Latin American banks should carefully consider the design, production, and technology issues involved in the manufacturing process. From producing the PVC to personalizing the chips embedded in the cards and printing security features, manufacturing technology helps banks build better financial cards in the most cost-effective way. For instance, a Latin American bank recently saved several million dollars by making the right chips and solution choices for its card program.

Today, issuing banks have various options in selecting the chips, the readers and the operating system for smart card programs. As one of the largest U.S. card manufacturers, CPI Card Group helps Latin American financial institutions determine the best approach for their smart card programs. Our Colorado location is fully certified by VISA, MasterCard and Proton for secure financial card production and both the Colorado and California plants are ISO 9001:2000 certified.

CPI Card Group works closely with highly respected card companies like Proton, Schlumberger Sema, UbiQ, Atmel, ST Microelectronics, Infineon Technologies and Philips. Over the past two decades, CPI Card Group has manufactured billions of credit cards, gift cards, loyalty cards, hotel keys and IDs, and is continually developing innovative products like clear cards that are fully compatible with Visa and MasterCard.