2024-09-09 04:00:32
At first glance, his work seems less rock’n’roll than his name, the producer of the Talking Heads, a post-punk cult group from the late 1970s And yet, in his white coat, David Byrne, director of innovation and production of digital identity and security services (today’s identity and securityDIS) from Thales, is shaking up its world in its own way: the smart card, whose 50th anniversary was just celebrated in March.
Arriving in 2013 at the Gémenos factory (Bouches-du-Rhône) where the technology developed in 1974 by Roland Moreno was manufactured by Gemplus in the late 1980s, Mr. Byrne observed new designs every day. . Because the one that is said to be outdated by mobile payment applications is still widely used: The French bank card network CB has 77 million in circulation in 2023 in France; in the world, more than 3.3 billion were delivered in the same year, according to the company Eurosmart.
Thales, which entered this market in 2019 with the acquisition of Gemalto, itself born from the 2006 merger of Gemplus and Axalto, produces approximately one in three bank cards issued worldwide. His first competitor was the French Idemia. German G & D completed the podium. Thales DIS generates, in 2023, a turnover of 3.3 billion euros, an increase of 4.1%, or 18% of the group’s total.
Biometric Cards
“With the digitization of services, our customers, big banks, do not ask us much for new features”stressed Mr. Innovation from Thales DIS, met on September 4, during a report for press to which Global we called There are biometric cards, which allow secure payment with a thumbprint (the solution is already offered by BNP Paribas). Or those adapted for the blind, which tell on the user’s smartphone the value of the transaction entered on the payment terminal by the seller. There are also some materials, like these LED cards that light up or heavy metals, as if to show the weight of the bank account.
Mr. Byrne’s team is also working to reduce plastic use by adding more recycled materials. “Four bank cards are eco-friendly, whether made from recycled plastic or wood”underlines Christelle Toureille, Vice-President of Operations at Thales DIS. Less ordered by banks, these “green” cards are more expensive to make. Likewise, payment companies have not set up a recovery and review process for completed cards.
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