Thales globally has over 83,000 employees in 68 countries, generated sales of €19 billion ($22.47 billion USD) in 2019 (on a pro forma basis including Gemalto over 12 months). With its Middle East and Africa (MEA) presence, Thales is supplying Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBK) with its Gemalto Trusted Services Hub (TSH) that offers CBK customers the freedom and convenience of secure contactless payments, on their smartphones. A tokenisation process allows the secure digitalisation of debit and credit cards on Android handsets, protecting users’ personal data against fraudsters.
To get access to this service, CBK customers just have to download CBK mobile banking application on their Android smartphones and register their payment cards securely in the mobile application. In just few seconds the payment cards are set at disposal in the app, in their digital versions, ready to be selected and used for purchases. The app, which also integrates Thales Gemalto SDK (Software Development Kit), can then be used as a mobile wallet to make swift and straightforward payments at contactless points of sales.
Thales solution is a cloud-based, turnkey service that facilitates seamless and secure tokenisation. The physical card’s details are converted into a digital token that can be embedded easily into devices such as smartphones and wearables. Moreover, the level of protection of the encrypted token prevents fraudsters to get access to users’ sensitive data, which ensures the highest standards of fraud protection.
According to AbdulAziz Essa Malak, AGM – Card Center at CBK, “CBK is committed to offering its customers the most innovative and exciting banking services possible. The introduction of contactless mobile payment represents the latest stage on this journey, and also reflects our confidence in Thales to help us deliver most advanced and recent digital payment innovations.”
The launch of mobile payments further extends and strengthens the partnership between CBK and Thales. The bank, which is one of Kuwait’s largest financial institutions, already relies on Thales for their EMV contactless cards, and Instant Issuance solution for immediate cards personalisation and printing.
According to Nassir Ghrous, Senior Vice President, Banking and Payment Services for Africa, Middle East and Eurasia region at Thales, “Our contribution to CBK success is set on unrivalled security expertise and experience in mobile payment deployments for worldwide issuers and wallets providers. As we work ever-more closely with CBK, our objective is to offer new digital experiences to Kuwait’s young, demanding and tech-savvy consumers.”
The Commercial Bank of Kuwait is one of the largest financial institutions in Kuwait with a strong and growing corporate and retail banking franchise providing innovative financial and investment solutions to its ever growing customer base, according to its website.
