equens

Utrecht, the Netherlands, 11 December 2007 – Equens Nederland B.V. and CCV Holland B.V. have established a new organisation – Stichting C-TAP Authority – for the management of the Common Terminal Acquiring Protocol (C-TAP). This protocol is used to transport payment transactions from the payment terminals in shops to processing systems (i.e. payment processors). C-TAP is an open standard, meaning that payment terminals can also be linked to other payment processors. Technically, the standard also provides a solution to the implementation of EMV, which involves the replacement of magnetic strips on bank cards with chips. The objective of the new organisation is to increase transparency and boost competition in the Dutch market. Upon its establishment on 7 November 2007, Mr G.J.A. Aussems was appointed Managing Director of the organisation whose activities will include managing the protocol, certifying payment terminals and issuing licences to new processors of payment transactions in the Netherlands – duties that were previously performed by Equens Nederland. In addition to providing services in the Netherlands, Equens will focus increasingly on payment processing in Europe.