Three of the founding members of the MULTOS consortium, Keycorp, Hitachi, and Mondex International Ltd, today announced an escalation in their investment in the MULTOS multi-application smart card assets, by acquiring from StepNexus Holdings Inc. the United Kingdom operations: StepNexus Limited and MAOSCO Limited, along with additional intellectual property rights and registered patents.
This new joint venture consortium will also operate the UK-based Key Management Authority (KMA).
After completion of the deal, expected within 30 days, Keycorp and Hitachi Limited will each hold 40% of the shares in the new venture and Mondex International Limited (a subsidiary of MasterCard) will hold 20%.
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About MULTOS
MULTOS is the most robust, industry-backed smart card platform delivering simplicity and innovation to the world's leading issuers. With more than 100 million issued smart cards across 32 countries, MULTOS is overseen and provided by a consortium of 19 smart card and silicon manufacturers, payment schemes, card management system providers, and integrators. A range of applications including payment, authentication, digital identity, biometrics, loyalty, and contactless ticketing may securely co-reside on a MULTOS powered chip.