SA must accelerate technology systems: opinion

IF South Africa is to fulfil its potential as an international tourism destination - and boost its chances of hosting major events such as the 2010 Soccer World Cup - it has to accelerate the rollout of point of sale (POS) systems which meet global standards. So says Gerhard Claassen, md of the Crypto Business Unit at JSE-listed secure electronic payments company, Prism Holdings, who maintains that international tourists must know that when they present their EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa)-based smartcards at a retail outlet anywhere in SA, it will be accepted. "At present, SA banks and retailers are stepping up their efforts to meet the mandated Visa and MasterCard deadline for their PIN-handling systems to comply with the global Triple DES (T-DES) algorithm and EMV standard. For example, Prism has supplied over R5m worth of Secure Application Modules (SAMs) to the financial and retail industries over the past eight months. But we still have a long way to go," he says. "South Africa will significantly boost its chances of hosting larger events if it can give the assurance that its retail and banking industries comply fully with global payments and security requirements," Claassen adds. According to Claassen, Visa and MasterCard have issued a mandate that all banks upgrade their PIN-handling systems to use the T-DES algorithm. A fixed time frame was provided in order to allow banks sufficient time to upgrade their systems: 2004 for all new hardware and 2010 for all existing POS devices. "But if we want to win the bid for the 2010 Soccer World Cup - or just increase our status as a tourism destination of choice - we can't afford to wait that long. The last thing we need is a tourist's credit card being rejected, or damaged, at a shop in, for example, Sandton City because the POS equipment couldn't deal with EMV requirements," he added. (Miguel de Sousa)