FRENCH MICROCHIP CARD MAKER IN CANADA
By Adnews Staff
The French company CP8-Oberthur has formed a Canadian subsidiary in Montreal to market its smart cards in Canada. In particular, Oberthur Canada will develop microchip cards. "Simple memory cards such as Bell phone cards are used mainly for prepayment," president and partner Daniel Tardif says in a release. "Microchip cards do more. They make it possible to modify the information recorded in memory. They are used for application as varied as electronic purse, management of personal and medical files, security and management of loyalty programs." Oberthur has no immediate plans to advertise in Canada, but if its does it will handle the job in-house. There are four Canadian partners in the business. Two are in the finance field and wish to remain anonymous. Tardif is the founder of Promo Marketing in Montreal and Toronto. He helped launch the Interact direct payment program. The other active partner, Paul LaFortune, is a former director of marketing for Provigo of Montreal. One of the partners in CP8-Oberthur is is Group François-Charles Oberthur which makes banknotes, cheques, stamps, lottery tickets, passports and smart cards.