FIME Opens US West Coast Office
FIME, the certification, consulting and integration testing services firm for near field communication (NFC) mobile solutions, has opened an office in San Francisco, as the US is finally set to migrate to the
global EMV
payment standard. The new office will provide US payments processors and other stakeholders in the NFC chain with local access to EMV knowledge and FIME’s global secure-chip testing and certification programmes.
The tech-savvy and fast growing San Francisco area, home to FIME new offices, will offer consultancy services to assist mobile money, marketing, loyalty and other NFC participants in selecting secure chip technology, advising parties through the testing and product certification stages.
The office will initially only offer EMV contactless testing services so that regional stakeholders can confirm that their NFC products perform as intended in the marketplace and have optimal interoperability.
“It is an exciting time for the US payments market as it implements a secure chip infrastructure,” says Xavier Giandominici, director at FIME America and responsible for the launch of the new office. “This not only sees the country migrate to the global EMV payment standard, but also benefit from the endless opportunities this framework presents in terms of NFC technology functionality and the delivery of secure mobile services. To ensure optimum return on investment US payments, NFC and mobile communities should acknowledge future requirements now so that they can implement long-term strategies that are flexible to changing market needs.”
FIME America has already played a role in the Canadian EMV migration and is currently supporting the certification requirements of the country’s mobile services ecosystem, which it also hopes to do in the US. The firm is also involved in trying to get the
isis
initiative off the ground.
According to Pascal Le Ray, general manager at FIME, the organisation has over 15 years’ experience supporting stakeholders that have implemented EMV — and increasingly NFC — solutions globally. “In addition to our knowledge on the standards that are mandatory, we also have expertise on the specifications that will support the next generation of payments and the delivery of value-added services,” he says. “Understanding this landscape during the product development stages significantly reduces product time to market and provides the capability to quickly adapt to future functional and regulatory updates. We believe the US market will advance quickly and FIME’s industry insights offer real advantages to our customers.”