OT supports the MasterCard Aid Network by providing pre-loaded payment cards

Oberthur Technologies (OT), a leading global provider of embedded security software products, services and solutions, today announces its support to the MasterCard Aid Network by providing pre-loaded chip cards to give people in need access to basic necessities such as food, medicine and shelter.

We are very proud at OT to contribute to the MasterCard Aid Network to facilitate access for populations to first level aid around the world using chip cards. OT’s chip card technology is a very convenient way of easing aid distribution while maintaining a high level of security.
Eric Duforest, Managing Director of the Financial Services Institutions business at OT

To address the challenge humanitarian organizations face providing aid in areas of political and economic unrest, MasterCard developed the MasterCard Aid Network, an end-to-end, non-financial service designed to streamline aid distribution even in the absence of a telecommunications infrastructure. Enabled by MC Aid impacted populations can secure basic needs swiftly with the simple insertion of a card.

Traditionally, aid distribution has relied on a paper voucher system that is largely crippled by slow distribution and with a high risk of fraud. To help modernize the system, OT provides chip cards pre-loaded with authorization to a selection of goods based on a points value system. Beneficiaries only have to insert their card into a dedicated terminal, select the groceries and produce they are entitled to by tapping the corresponding photos on a screen, and enter a PIN to securely verify their transaction.

The MC Aid Network has been tested and proven in real-life situations and has delivered greater efficiency and transparency beyond the cumbersome traditional paper voucher model. Thanks to its wide network of service centers, OT is able to deliver customized pre-loaded chip cards in any place of the world, where aid is vital, on very short notice.