International provider of digital security services Gemalto has extended its PURE white-label payment solution to Ghana to help speed up the country's Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) migration.

The company has announced a partnership with GhIPSS (Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems), a subsidiary of the national central bank that manages the country's interbank payment processing system.

Gemalto says the technology and consultancy will help speed up Ghana's migration to the enhanced security of EMV transactions and enable GhIPSS to offer its 41-member institutions comprehensive support for the introduction of domestic-branded EMV cards.

Archie Hesse, CEO of GhIPSS says PURE, which enables the use of contact and contactless cards as well as mobile payments, will grant the company greater flexibility as it strives to modernise Ghana's banking and payments sector.

A statement from Gemalto notes, "For end users, the solution will ensure that all bank cards can be used at ATMs and POS terminals throughout Ghana, backed by the proven fraud protection of global payment standards. Full interoperability will be established between all of Ghana's stakeholders, including banks, merchants and end users."

Yogesh Mathur, Vice President for Sales, Telecom and Banking at Gemalto says PURE has enabled businesses including Verve in Nigeria, PostBank Uganda, Algeria and Morocco, to achieve full control of their card issuing schemes, with the potential for smooth transition to contactless and mobile payments.

According to Mathur, Gemalto currently issues and personalises cards for all South Africa's leading banks. "EMV customers in Africa also include BNI Madagascar and Société Générale Mozambique, as well as many of the region's Barclays affiliates. We are actively supporting EMV migration in Ethiopia and Angola, as well as for integrated digital payment providers such as InterSwitch in Nigeria."

The company was recently selected by Bank of Cyprus, which also has offices in South Africa, to supply what it called the world's first EMV biometric dual interface payment card for both chip and contactless payments.

Gemalto says the EMV biometric dual interface payment card is set to replace PIN code, facilitating higher value contactless transactions using fingerprint recognition instead of a PIN code to authenticate the cardholder. The card is compatible with existing payment terminals already installed in the country.

In 2015, ReportsnReports.com forecasted the global contactless smart card market to see 30% CAGR over the period 2014-2019.

According to the report, the growing need to diminish identity duplication and forgery cases has resulted in remarkable growth in the Global Contactless Smart Card Market.

IHS Technology, publisher of Electronics 360, has reported that by 2019 annual smartcard shipments will be at 10.9 billion units; about 1.4 for each of the world's projected 7.6 billion inhabitants.

At least four uses of smart cards will contribute to this rising demand including chips within credit cards for payment and banking, e-government (ID and e-passports), healthcare and transportation.