Fargo HDP Financial Card Printing Technology

  Now in 15 U.S. Pilot Programs

Instant issuance printer from HID Global in use in over 100 branches

            Minneapolis, MN, March 27, 2008 – HID Global, the trusted leader in providing solutions for the delivery of secure identity, today announced its participation in 15 pilot programs utilizing its Fargo HDP instant issuance financial card printing technology with banks and credit unions. More than 100 branches are using the HDP printing technology, producing debit cards instantly for banking customers.

The largest of the programs is TD Banknorth, a banking and financial services company headquartered in Portland, Maine, who is piloting Dynamic Card Solutions’ CardWizard FCP 20/20, an OEM version of HDP technology in dozens of branches. TD Banknorth is offering customers a flat-panel, or non-embossed, Visa^® debit card and an individual PIN when they open a personal or business checking account. The cards can be used immediately at ATMs and retailers. TD Banknorth plans to roll out the program to all 600 branches in 2008.

Other pilots include a major U.S. bank with 2,000 branches across the country. Beginning at 21 locations in March 2008, they are offering customers instant issuance of MasterCard^® flat-panel debit cards. There are an additional 13 financial institutions instantly issuing MasterCard and Visa debit cards using Fargo HDP technology via Dynamic Card Solutions’ CardWizard FCP 20/20 or the Fargo HDPii financial card printer.

“Debit cards are where flat-panel technology is taking off,” said Steve Blake, business development manager for HID Global. “When a customer comes in to open an account, and walks out minutes later with a personalized debit card, that provides instant gratification to the customer, and increased revenues for the bank.”

With instant issuance, customers no longer have to wait for weeks to receive their bank card in the mail or worry about whether it might have been lost or stolen. Instead, they can walk out of a bank with a card in their hands, ready to put it to work.

Banks benefit from instant issuance, too, by moving the percentage of cards activated from a typical 60 percent to 100 percent because the cards are presented to customers on site. At the same time, card mailing costs are eliminated. As more cards are activated, more are used, and more revenue flows into the financial institution. Typically, when customers receive their cards by mail, they do not use them for one to two weeks. With instant issuance, a card is activated automatically and used within a day or two. The sooner the card is used, the sooner the bank receives revenue.

The HDPii and the CardWizard FCP 20/20 use High Definition Printing™ technology also found in HID’s successful line of Fargo HDP ID card printers. Fargo’s HDP functionality offers superior card image quality, essential in the financial card industry. With such print quality, banks can expand their marketing potential with sophisticated affinity, or loyalty, programs to attract and retain customers. These marketing programs might include a co-branded card, displaying a company’s name and logo alongside the name of a bank, or a card that includes a consumer-provided digital photo printed on the card.

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