May 27, 2014 - Fime has announced the completion of a period of consultancy and testing to validate Nabil Bank's point of sale (POS) terminals and host acquirer platform infrastructure to UnionPay, MasterCard and Visa specifications.

The project forms part of Nabil Bank's preparation for migration to EMV® chip payments technology and was completed in just two and a half months.

The Nepalese bank partnered with FIME to ensure that its two EMV POS devices are compliant to the individual terminal integration requirements designated by each of the payment systems. The host acquirer platform certifications, also completed by FIME, confirm that the bank's infrastructure adheres to the functional standards set out by the three payment systems. These standards aim to ensure that POS terminals connected to the bank's network are using the same 'language' to relay information.

Niraj Sharma, Head - Cards & e-Banking at Nabil Bank, comments: "While EMV migration deadlines are not currently set for Nepal, the security of our customers' finances is of paramount importance to us so we have chosen to adopt chip technology regardless. These accreditations demonstrate our commitment to full EMV deployment and FIME's expertise has helped us move forward with this process quickly, cost effectively and with minimal complications."

FIME is an EMV implementation partner, offering practical support and solutions to ensure banks can implement EMV effectively and successfully. Using the FIME SAVVI test analysis tool, with FIME test cards qualified by the payment systems, acquirers have the ability to debug and test the compliance of a payment acceptance terminal in preparation for formal approval and, ultimately, market implementation.

"FIME has the expertise and knowledge to address acquirer EMV complexities to accelerate product time to market, and we are delighted to have achieved these qualifications for Nabil Bank in just over two months," adds Prakash Sambandam, Director of FIME India. "FIME combines global EMV skills with local awareness to help banks in South Asia understand the rapidly evolving payments ecosystem. It is great to see banks seizing the initiative and choosing to migrate to a more secure payments system and, with Nabil Bank making this move, I'm sure we will see other big players in the region follow suit."

EMV is a global standard for credit and debit payment cards based on secure chip technology. More than 80 countries worldwide have adopted, or are adopting, EMV in order to increase transaction security, reduce fraud, enable cardholders to execute payments worldwide and take advantage of a payments infrastructure capable of supporting a variety of new value added applications.