XIRING : The European Market for Strong Authentication Solutions by Bank Card to Secure Online Banking and E-Commerce Payments: 21 Million Personal Card Readers Delivered in Europe

Regulatory News:

XIRING (Paris:ALXIR), a security solutions provider for remote transactions, announces the 2009 market figures for strong authentication solution Vericode¹ and similar bank card solutions, strengthening the 2010 vision unveiled last year. In total 21 million bank card based strong authentication solutions have been delivered in Europe to replace the static password for online banking services and to secure e-commerce payments. Of these, XIRING, whose market leadership has been confirmed, has issued more than 10 million solutions to date.

In early 2008 XIRING launched an annual survey on the bank card based strong authentication solutions market, which includes Home Chip and PIN/Vericode and similar products.

The 2008 consolidated year-end figures for Europe (including Switzerland and Turkey) show the number of solutions delivered over twelve months has doubled; proving the relevance of the solutions for replacing static passwords, especially to secure online banking transactions.

With around 21 million solutions distributed by the 2008 year-end, personal card based strong authentication is the most deployed solution in Europe after the static password for securing online banking.

In regards to the deployment of these personal strong authentication solutions, the North of Europe is in the lead with about 15 million users equipped in Scandinavia, Benelux and the UK, half of the 2010 forecast (31 million). In the UK it is estimated that more than 7 million Britons were equipped over 18 months, thus validating XIRING's estimate to 15.7 million users in the UK and Ireland by the end of 2010.

2008 also saw new countries opening up to bank card based strong authentication solutions including France and Italy.

In this geography, it is estimated that 60 million users will be equipped at the end of 2010, with significant volumes in France (10 million). Banque Populaire, the first French bank to launch the solution for its internet customers, has begun the deployment programme of XIRING's Vericode at the beginning of the year.

From on-line banking to e-commerce payments

With bank smart cards issued to more than 100 million Europeans, these strong authentication solutions are also allowing e-commerce payments to be secured. The changing banking regulations, the introduction of EMV smart cards and ?Verified by VISA? and ?MasterCard SecureCode? e-commerce secure payments naturally lead to the use of the same solution to secure both online banking and e-commerce payments: by using the security of the bank smart card, the Home Chip and PIN/Vericode solution effectively removes fraud from remote transactions.

For its part, XIRING delivered more than 10 million Home Chip and PIN/Vericode in 2008 and has thus taken a leading position with 50% of the market share.

About XIRING

Created in 1998, XIRING is a security solutions provider and develops security software embedded in smart card readers for strong authentication and digital signature. XIRING has distributed over 10 million strong authentication solutions based on banking cards and compliant with MasterCard and Visa programs, and is the leader of the professional solutions market for the SESAM-Vitale French healthcare scheme. In 2008, XIRING posted a turnover of €28.5 million up 20% and an operating margin of €3.5 million up 62%. XIRING is listed on the Alternext compartment of the NYSE-Euronext Paris exchange since September 18, 2006. ISIN code: FR0004155612, Mnemonic: ALXIR.

¹ VERICODE^® (n.m) {vérikod}: a personal bank card reader enabling your smart card to be used to secure online banking transactions and Internet payments. Currently distributed by many banks as part of their online banking services.

XIRING
Leslie JUNG, +331 46 25 80 23
pressoffice@xiring.com
or
HOTWIRE UK
Louisa EXCELL, +44 (0) 20 7608 8350
Louisa.excell@hotwirepr.com