How Crédit Agricole Achieved High Level Security with Cardink

WHO IS CRÉDIT AGRICOLE?

Crédit Agricole has undertaken one of the world’s biggest multi-application EMV® issuing projects to date. Every fourth cardholding bank customer in France is receiving new chip-enabled credit and debit cards for domestic and international use from Crédit Agricole. The project has been one of the first to implement Common Personalization - a new standard introduced by Visa International and set forth by EMVCo.

CEDICAM (Centre d’Échanges de Données et d’informations due Crédit Agricole Mutuel) is jointly owned by Crédit Agricole S.A. and the CréditAgricole Regional Banks. The company is the Crédit Agricole Group’s specialist in automated payment systems and management of financial flows.

CEDICAM has been commissioned to issue the new EMV® credit and debit cards to the entire card base of Crédit Agricole, which holds more than 12million cards. The new cards feature domestic and international applications as well as an e-purse.

PROBLEM

Crédit Agricole had previously issued chip payment cards that were accepted for domestic transactions, but these cards were not EMV® compliant. To meet the European deadlines set by Visa and MasterCard, Crédit Agricole needed to migrate its entire card base to EMV® while continuing to support both domestic and international payment applications. The migration required the issuance of multi-application smart cards, combining debit, credit, and e-purse functionality, while maintaining a high level of security and interoperability.

SOLUTION

CEDICAM upgraded its card product platform to EMV® and selected Cryptomathic CardInk to meet the new issuing requirements within its existing environment. Cryptomathic delivered a solution that supports EMV®, Moneo, and magnetic stripe data preparation, enabling personalisation and customisation to national banking requirements.

RESULTS

Secure issuance of EMV®-compliant multi-application cards, support for domestic and international use, maintaining a high level of security and flexibility in the production line.

CUSTOMER VIEW

"Crédit Agricole has successfully managed the high level of security required for issuing EMV® cards with the implementation of CardInk while maintaining the highest level of flexibility in the production line."

Fabrice Piau
Security Officer, CEDICAM

THE IMPORTANCE OF EMV® COMPLIANCE

EMV® compliance ensures that card applications comply with the requirements of international payment systems while guaranteeing security and interoperability. By adhering to EMV® standards, card issuers are able to issue payment cards that are accepted for both domestic and international transactions and that meet the technical specifications defined by the payment schemes.

Crédit Agricole had previously issued chip payment cards to its clients. While these cards were generally accepted for domestic transactions, they were not EMV® compliant. As a result, they could not fully support international interoperability or meet the requirements set by Visa and MasterCard for EMV® transactions.

The migration to EMV® was therefore required to combine existing domestic card usage with EMV® chip applications in line with the 2005 European deadline set forward by Visa and MasterCard. This migration enabled Crédit Agricole to issue cards that support both domestic and international debit and credit applications while complying with EMV® standards.

By upgrading its card product platform to EMV®, Crédit Agricole ensured that its card applications complied with payment system requirements and supported a high level of security and interoperability across markets.

WHY CRYPTOMATHIC?

CEDICAM selected Cryptomathic to deliver a solution that met EMV® requirements while integrating into its existing card issuing and production environment.

Cryptomathic CardInk supports Common Personalization, SDA, and DDA, and allows CEDICAM to manage secure EMV® card issuance while maintaining flexibility in card production.

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EMV® MIGRATION AT SCALE

Migrating an existing base of chip cards to EMV® debit and credit cards, in line with Visa and MasterCard requirements and European deadlines.

MULTI-APPLICATION CARD ISSUANCE

Issuing multi-application smart cards supporting French domestic applications, domestic and international EMV® debit and credit applications.

HIGH-VOLUME CARD PRODUCTION

Supporting an issuing environment capable of producing of almost 100,000 multi-application smart cards per day while maintaining operational stability.

SECURE ISSUING AND INTEGRATION

Maintaining a high level of security for EMV® card issuance, while integrating the solution into existing local French banking and production environment.

CEDICAM REQUIREMENTS

CEDICAM required a data preparation solution capable of supporting EMV® card issuance within an existing, fully automated production environment.

The solution needed to operate at very high volumes while supporting multiple card applications and complying with EMV® standards, without disrupting established issuing processes.

Key requirements included:

Multi-Application Support

Issuance of multi-application smart cards carrying French domestic applications, including B0’ and Moneo, as well as domestic and international EMV® debit and credit applications. The cards were also required to support an electronic purse, with Visa or MasterCard branding depending on the card type.

EMV® Standards Compliance

Support for EMV® standards, including the implementation of Common Personalization as defined by Visa International and EMVCo. The solution was also required to support EMV® authentication methods, including Static Data Authentication (SDA) and Dynamic Data Authentication (DDA).

High-Volume Production

Capability to support an issuing requirement of almost 100,000 multi-application smart cards per day, with multiple systems operating in parallel to ensure capacity, synchronisation, and redundancy within the production environment.

Secure Operations

Separation of cryptographic key management and overall security operations from card production, with keys managed at CEDICAM’s main location and card production carried out at a separate site. This physical separation was required to be supported through secure configuration and remote management.

ENHANCED SECURITY

Crédit Agricole can now manage the high level of security required for issuing EMV® cards while maintaining the highest level of flexibility in the production line.

HIGH-VOLUME CARD ISSUANCE

Crédit Agricole can issue nearly 100,000 multi-application smart cards per day, enabling rapid rollout of EMV® cards across its customer base.

SCALABLE CARD ISSUANCE

Crédit Agricole can issue large volumes of cards reliably while maintaining high availability and scaling capacity to support future issuing requirements.

EMV® COMPLIANCE

Issuance of debit and credit cards compliant with Visa and MasterCard EMV® requirements, supporting domestic and international transactions.

CONCLUSION

Crédit Agricole’s EMV® migration demonstrates how large-scale, multi-application card issuance can be achieved while maintaining strict security and operational flexibility.

With Cryptomathic CardInk, CEDICAM successfully implemented EMV® standards, supported Common Personalization, and delivered secure, high-volume card issuance across the Crédit Agricole Group.

HOW CRÉDIT AGRICOLE ACHIEVED HIGH LEVEL SECURITY WITH CARDINK

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