Thames is continuously striving to increase quality and improve processes with activity led by our Quality team, headed by Martin Sexton. Significant investment has been made into new processes which include a new specialised clean area for card production.

This effort has been externally recognised with two quality accreditations being upgraded in the last month.

Firstly, we have been recommended to move from recognition level to full accreditation for CQM (Card Quality Management). This is a recognised MasterCard quality standard for the manufacture of cards.

Secondly, we have had the recommendation that our ISO 9001:2000 accreditation for our Quality Management System be upgraded to the ISO 9001:2008 version.

Both of these achievements strengthen our standards and ensure that all cards delivered to our customers are of the highest quality.

Thames Card Technology Ltd would like to announce two recent appointments.

Joining as Head of Sales is Richard Lucas, a proven corporate sales leader with over a decade’s Pan-European & Global Sales leadership experience.

He was formally Enterprise Sales Director at Telstra International and prior to that has held various sales leadership posts responsible for the UK & EMEA regions, restructuring sales operations and driving growth.

Richard will be responsible for all Sales activities within the organisation.

Appointed as Head of Finance, Ruth Manning-Brown joins Thames Card Technology from First Data, where she was Finance Director for the UK Issuer business. Ruth has been a CIMA Associate for over 10 years, as well as having a BA (Hons) Degree in Applied Economics & a Diploma in Industrial Studies from the University of Ulster.

She is experienced in Finance Partnering, working closely with the business in ensuring cost management, margin protection and financial growth.

Both bring a wealth of experience in their respected fields to complement and enhance the existing Management Team.

The conference is presented by a number of key speakers from the retail industry covering all aspects of gift voucher and gift card programs and is a must to keep up to date with the latest Gift Card trends and technology.

Thames are at the forefront of gift card manufacture, personalisation and fulfilment for both Open Loop and Closed Loop Gift Card programs and are able to offer expertise through every step of your project.

Dean King (Business Development Manager) and Kevin Freidrich (Sales executive) will be attending the show and are available for meetings throughout the day. If you would like to arrange a meeting to discuss any aspect of your Gift Card program, please contact us on 01268 77 55 55.

Thames Card Technology Ltd and Sagem Orga announce the launch of a new EMV Dual Interface Payment Card for production in the UK.

The EMV Pro CL dual interface payment card from Sagem Orga (Safran group) has been successfully certified by MasterCard and Visa for production in the UK by Thames Card Technology.

The EMV Pro CL combines the advantages of a dual interface card with the speed and efficiency of a native operating system. EMV Pro CL offers highly secure payment functionality and added value solutions. This card offers card issuers the combination of convenience, security and cost-efficiency for low-value payment transactions.

Sagem Orga‘s and Thames Card Technology’s new dual interface product complies with the latest standards specified by Visa and MasterCard and completes a full payment product range.

The EMV Pro CL card is produced in the UK by Thames Card Technology using an innovative production method where there is no physical connection between chip and antenna. This therefore provides excellent resilience and helps ensure consistently fast production lead times can be offered.

“We are pleased to enhance the range of products offered to banks and other Card issuers.  Our continued investment in smartcard production equipment enables Thames to continue to supply full EMV card solutions, including innovative card bodies and comprehensive personalisation and fulfillment services from a UK production site”, commented Paul Underwood, Managing Director at Thames.

Pierre Henri Manegrier, Senior VP EMEA Banking Sales at Sagem Orga underlines, “Thames and Sagem Orga have established a successful partnership and sold several million EMV payment cards to banks and card issuers, especially in the prepaid segment. The launch of the EMV Pro CL cards will contribute to strengthen this relationship further in the future.”

Sagem Orga is a global leader in the smart card industry. Its portfolio includes hardware, software, consulting and services, all focused on smart cards for the telecommunications, health, identification and banking sectors. As a subsidiary of Sagem Sécurité (Safran group), the world’s No. 1 in identification, Sagem Orga offers comprehensive integrated solutions designed to secure the digital and mobile community. The company has a workforce of over 2,100 people around the world and production facilities incorporating the latest technology in Germany, Brazil, Russia, Mexico and India.
www.sagem-orga.com

Thames Card Technology has produced the first UK customisable prepaid MasterCard® gift cards.

These cards, issued by Newcastle Building Society and offered through Quantum Card Services, use Retransfer printing technology enabling images that cardholders upload via Quantum’s website to be used to create a fully personalised gift card that can be used at any MasterCard® outlet worldwide.

Card customisation has already been proven to result in increased transactions, acquisition and retention rates in traditional card markets. It will also offer an immediate differentiator for marketing purposes, particularly important in the ultra-competitive prepaid market

The service is provided in conjunction with the Serverside Group a global technology leader in digital card design to ensure that the images meet with MasterCard® design requirements.

The result is a high quality bespoke product that gives the customer the opportunity to make a gift card far more personal.

Cards are available from the MasterCard® Prepaid Gift Card Home Page

19th January 2010

Thames Card Technology have successfully personalised and issued EMV cards supporting DDA¹ technology for the Bank of Cyprus UK Visa Debit portfolio. The Data Preparation and Personalisation solution has been developed in house with the Smart Card technology provided by our partners Sagem Orga.

With both VISA and MasterCard mandating the use of DDA from the 1st January 2011, this recent development will mean that Thames can continue to support its financial and banking clients with the latest technology.

16th November 2009

Thames Card Technology launches their new website along with a new logo and branding. The branding will be phased in across all marketing material and correspondence over the course of the next 6-12 months

16th November 2009

Thames Card Technology Ltd appoints David Bevan as Production Manager with a special emphasis on implementing quality, service and production improvement strategies. David has a wealth of operational experience and brings both high levels of engineering and people development skills to complement the existing management team.